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H.SHACKLETON 


THE  HEART  OF 
THE  ANTARCTIC 


THE  NORTIIEUN   I'AKTV   AT  THE  SOUTH  MAGNETIC   I'OLE 

FROM  LEFT— DR.  MACKAY,  I'ROFESSOR  DAVHX 

DOl  (;l,ASMA\YS()N 


THE  HEART  OF  THE 

ANTARCTIC 

BEING  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BRITISH 
ANTARCTIC  EXPEDITION  1907-1909 

BY  E.  H.  SHACKLETON,  C.V.O. 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY  HUGH  ROBERT 
MILL,  D.Sc.  AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  FIRST  JOURNEY 
TO    THE    SOUTH    MAGNETIC    POLE    BY    PROFESSOR 

T.    W.    EDGEWORTH     DAVID,    F.R.S. 


VOL.  n 


PHILADELPHIA 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 

1909 


Copyright,  1909,  by  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company 


Published  November,  1909 


Printed  by  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company 
The  Waihington  Square  Preit,  Philadelphia,  U.S.A. 


Content?!  of  a^olume  Ctuo 


CHAPTER  I  PAGE 

SOME  NOTES  ON  THE  SOUTHERN  JOURNEY 1 

CHAPTER  II 

SUMMER  AT  THE  WINTER  QUARTERS 22 

CHAPTER  III 

RETURN  OF  THE  "NIMROD" 40 

CHAPTER  IV 

THE  BLUFF  DEPOT  JOURNEY 52 

CHAPTER  V 

THE  WESTERN  JOURNEY 61 

CHAPTER  \1 

PROFESSOR  DAVID'S  NARRATIVE 73 

CHAPTER  \TI 

PROFESSOR  DAVID'S  NARRATIVE  (CONTINUED) 92 

CHAPTER  VIII 

PROFESSOR  DAVID'S  NARRATIVE  (CONTINUED) Ill 

CHAPTER  IX 

PROFESSOR  DAVTD'S  NARRATIVE  (CONTINUED) 129 

CHAPTER  X 

PROFESSOR  DAVID'S  NARRATIVE  (CONTINUED) 147 

CHAPTER  XI 

PROFESSOR  DAVID'S  NARRATIVE  (CONTINUED) 166 

CHAPTER  XII 

PROFESSOR  DAVID'S  NARRATIVE  (CONTINUED) 183 

V 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XIII 

PROFESSOR  DAVID'S  NARRATIVE  (CONCLUDED) 207 

CHAPTER  XIV 

ALL  ABOARD:  THE  RETURN  TO  NEW  ZEALAND 223 

APPENDIX  I 

BIOLOGY.     NOTES  BY  JAMES  MURRAY,  BIOLOGIST  OF 
THE  EXPEDITION 283 

APPENDIX  II 

GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS  IN  ANTARCTICA  BY  THE 
BRITISH  ANTARCTIC  EXPEDITION.  1907-1909.  BY  PRO- 
FESSOR T.  W.  EDGEWORTH  DAVID.  B.A.,  F.R.S..  AND  RAY- 
MOND E.  PRIESTLEY,  GEOLOGIST  TO  THE  EXPEDITION .  276 
NOTES  IN  REGARD  TO  MOUNT  EREBUS.  BY  PROFESSOR 
T.  W.  EDGEWORTH  DAVID  AND  RAYMOND  PRIESTLEY. .  324 
ADDITIONAL  NOTES  ON  ERUPTIONS.  BY  JAMES  MUR- 
RAY      327 

APPENDIX  III 

SCIENTIFIC  RESULTS  OF  THE  WESTERN  JOURNEY.  SEC- 
TION I:  GEOLOGICAL  AND  GEOGRAPHICAL.  BY  RAY- 
MOND E.  PRIESTLEY,  GEOLOGIST  TO  THE  EXPEDITION.  332 
SECTION  II:  DESCRIPTIONS  OF  THE  STRANDED  MO- 
RAINES AND  DRY  VALLEY.  WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE 
TO  THE  RECENT  ELEVATION  OF  THE  LAND  BORDERING 

McMURDO  SOUND 341 

SECTION  III:  EFFECT  OF  THE  SUMMER  SUN  ON  DIFFER- 
ENT VARIETIES  OF  ICE  AND  SNOW 351 

APPENDIX  IV 

NOTES   ON   PHYSICS,   CHE^^STRY   AND   MINERALOGY: 
ICE  AND  SNOW.     NOTES  BY  DOUGLAS  MAWSON,  B.Sc.  B.E.     354 

ADDITIONAL  NOTES  BY  JAMES  MURRAY 360 

MINERALOGY  AND  CHEMISTRY.     NOTES  BY  DOUGLAS 

MAWSON.  B.Sc,  B.E 366 

METEOROLOGICAL  OPTICS.    NOTES  BY  DOUGLAS  MAW- 
SON, B.Sc,  B.E 367 

ADDITIONAL  NOTES  BY  JAMES  MURRAY 370 

MAGNETIC  OBSERVATIONS.    THE  MAGNETIC  POLE  AND 
THE  AURORA.     NOTES  BY  DOUGLAS  MAWSON.  B.Sc,  B.E.    382 

Ti 


CONTENTS 

NOTES  ON  THE  AURORA  AUSTRALIS.  BY  JAMES  MUR- 
RAY      386 

TIDES  AND  CURRENTS.     BY  JAMES  MURRAY 392 

APPENDIX  V 

METEOROLOGY.  A  SUMMARY  OF  RESULTS.  BY  PRO- 
FESSOR T.  W.  EDGEWORTH  DAVID,  B.A.,  F.R.S.,  AND  LIEU- 
TENANT ADAMS,  R.N.R.,  METEOROLOGIST  TO  THE  EX- 
PEDITION, 1907-1909 402 

ADDITIONAL  NOTES  BY  JAMES  MURRAY 412 

NOTE    ON    THERMOMETERS    FOR    POLAR    WORK.     BY 

JAMES  MURRAY 417 

CLOUD  FORMS.    BY  JAMES  MURRAY 418 

APPENDIX  VI 

REPORT  ON  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  EXPEDITION.  BY  DR. 
ERIC  MARSHALL,  M.R.C.S.,  L.R.C.P 426 

APPENDIX  VII 

SOUTHERN  JOURNEY  DISTANCES 429 

APPENDIX  VIII 

CONSUMPTION  OF  STORES  AT  WINTER  QUARTERS 435 

APPENDIX  IX 

THE  NIMROD'S  HOMEWARD  VOYAGE— IN  SEARCH  OF 
DOUBTFUL  ISLANDS 437 

APPENDIX  X 

ESTIMATED  COST  OF  THE  BRITISH  ANTARCTIC  EXPE- 
DITION 1907  UP  TO  AUGUST  1909 445 

INDEX 447 


Lijst  of  ^UuiStrationiS  of  Bolumc  Ctoo 

The  Northern  Party  at  the  South  Magnetic  Pole  Froniitpiece 

From  left:  Dr.  Mackay,  Professor  David,  Douglas  Mawson 

COLOURED   PLATES 

The  Returning  Sun 26 

The  Depot  Party  Amongst  Crevasses S6 

A  Blizzard  on  the  Barrier 82 

A  Parselene 164 

The  Emperors'  Conclave 240 

Return  of  the  Penguins 264 

PLATES 

The  Hut  in  Summer  Time:  Coal  Bags  at  the  left 6 

Another  View  of  the  Hut  in  Summer.     The  Meteorological  Station 

CAN  BE  seen  on  THE  EXTREME  RIGHT 6 

Bay  op  Whales,  or  Balloon  Bight  (Sketch  by  G.  Marston) 14 

The  Motor-car  in  Soft  Snow,  after  the  Return  of  the  Ship 14 

Penguins  listening  to  the  Gramophone  during  the  Summer 14 

Glacier  South  of  Cape  Barne,  with  Motor  travelling  on  Sea  Ice.  24 

A  Seal  destined  for  the  Larder 24 

Fetching  Snow  for  Cooking  Purposes 24 

Transporting  a  Sledge  over  bare  Rocks  for  the  Summer  Journey 

TO  the  Slopes  op  Mount  Erebus 24 

P.'iRAsiTic  Cone  on  the  Slopes  op  Mount  Erebus ,  24 

Smoke  streaming  from  the  Crater  of  Mount  Erebus 24 

Start  of  Western  Party  from  Cape  Rotds 34 

ix 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Motor  neab  the  Winter  Quarters S4 

A  Haul  of  Fish 34 

Serrated  Edge  of  Glacier  soijth  of  Cape  Barne,  Ross  Island 43 

View  from  High  Hill  after  second  arrival  of  the  "Nimrod."     The 

Ship  in  loose  pack 42 

Group  in  the  Hut  in  the  Summer:  Joyce  at  the  Sewino  Machine.  .  48 

Bluff  Depot  Party  on  the  Barrier 48 

A  Dog  Team  with  Loaded  Sledqe  ooinq  South  to  lay  a  Depot  for  the 

Return  op  the  Southern  Party 52 

Depot  Party  pitching  a  Tent 52 

The  Bluff  Depot 52 

Digging  to  ascertain  the  depth  of  snow  covering  a  depot  left  by 

the  Discovery  Expedition 58 

A  typical  Crevasse  on  level  surface.    The  Snow  Bridge  fell  in  just 

after  the  Bluff  Depot  Party  had  passed  over  it 58 

The  Winter   Quarters,   with   Mount   Erebus   in  the  background. 

The  Dog-kennels  are  seen  on  the  left 58 

Camp  on  December  17  on  the  Ferrar  Glacier  below  Sentinel  Rock  62 

Rough  Ice  Surface  near  Windy  Gully 62 

The  Western  Party  Ca.mped  on  the  Ferrar  Glacier  on  December 

18.   Heavy  hanging  Glaciers  on  the  Hills 62 

Western  Party  in  Camp  on  December  20 66 

Western  Party's  Camp  on  December  28  below  a  hanging  glacier  at 

the  Cathedral  Rocks 66 

Looking  down  the  Eastern  Arm  of  the  Ferrar  Glacier  towards  Dry 

Valley  from  Solitary  Rocks 66 

Dry  Valley 66 

Picking  up  the  Western  Party 74 

The  Motor-car  in  the  Garage,  and  Maize-crusher  on  the  right.  .  74 

The  Start  op  a  Blizzard  from  the  South;  Drift  coming  bound  Mount 

Erebus 80 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Mabston  and  Murray  at  the  Doob  of  tue  Hut 86 

Daisy's  Third  Litter  at  the  Winter  Quarters 86 

The  Motor  haulinq  Stores  fob  a  Depot 86 

MoRAiNic  Cone  with  raised  Beach  material.     Mount  Labsen  on  the 

BIGHT.     "Backstairs  Passage"  is  behind  the  Cone 94 

One  of  the  Sledges  taken  by  the  Northern  Party 94 

Taking  possession  of  Cape  Bernacchi,  Victoria  Land 94 

Dark  Enclosubes  of  Hornblende  Rock  in  Gneiss,  Depot  Island 104 

Seals  on  Coast  of  Victoria  Land 104 

Adelie  Penguins  Visit  a  Camp 112 

Seals  at  the  Ice-edge 116 

Cliff  down  which  the  Sledges  were  lowered  on  the  North  Side  of 

the  Nordenskjold  Ice  Babbieb  Tongue 122 

A  Pause  by  the  Way 122 

Skua  Gulls  at  the  Ice-edge 138 

Depot  on  the  Dbygalski  Babbier 160 

"Backstairs  Passage"  on  the  Ascent  from  the  Sea  Ice  to  the  Pla- 
teau.    Mount  Laesen  on  the  left 160 

The  Nobthebn  Pabty  on  the  Plateau 180 

Pool  of  Thaw  Wateb  fobmed  by  the  euergence  of  a  Sub-glacial 

Stream  South-east  of  Mount  Larsen 180 

Watching  for  Seals  at  the  Ice-edge 200 

"Nimrod"  picking  up  the  Northern  Party  at  the  Edge  of  the  Dby- 
galski B.tJlEIER 208 

The  "Nimrod"  held  up  in  the  Ice 214 

Captain  Evans  and  the  "Nimrod"  after  .k  Blizzard 214 

The  Deck  of  the  "Nimrod"  after  a  Blizzard 214 

Party  setting  out  from  Ship 220 

The  Crow's  Nest  of  the  "Nimrod,"  as  seen  fbom  the  Deck 224 

The  Ship  off  Pbam  Point,  just  before  leaving  for  the  North 224 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Motor-car  beino  taken  aboard  the  "Nimrod"  for  the  return 

Journey 224 

Readt  to  Start  Home 224 

New  Coast-l:ne  West  of  Cape  North  (Sketched  by  G.  Marston) 228 

Floating  Ice  off  Cape  Adare 230 

Last  View  op  Cape  Adare 230 

The  first  Landing  in  New  Zealand  on  the  return  of  the  Expedition. 

A  Bat  in  Stewart  Island 230 

Open  Water  at  Green  Lake  in  Summer  Time 238 

Claws  of  a  Water-Bear,  magnified  about  500  Diameters 238 

A  NEW  Species  op  Rotifer  found  at  Cape  Rotds.     Its  distinctive 

feature   is   the   possession    of   WING-LIKE   PROTUBERANCES   AT  THE 

Sides 238 

A  large  FREE-SWIMMING  ROTIFER,  CALLED  HyDATINA.      It  IS  VERT  PLEN- 
TIFUL IN  THE  Coast  Lakes  in  the  Summer 238 

Viviparous  Rotifer  from  the  Salt  Lakes.     The  oval  Bodies  seen  in 

THE  Adult  Animal  are  the  Young 238 

The  Gregarious  Rotifer,  which  forms  Blood-red  Patches  in  the 

Lakes  at  Cape  Rotds 238 

A  Single  Specimen  of  Gregarious  Rotifer.     The  Dark  Portion  is 
THE  Stomach,  and  the  oval  form  of  an  Unborn  Young  Rotifer 

CAN  BE  seen 238 

The  Commonest  Water-Bear  in  the  Cape  Rotds  District 238 

MURRAT  HOLDING  TOUNG  PeNGUINS 242 

JOTCE  AND  THE  DOGS  IN  THE  Pe.NGUIN  RoOKEKY 242 

Two  Emperor  Penguins 242 

Adelie  Penguins 242 

Emperors  Visit  the  Adelie  Rookery;  Ceremonial  Bowing 250 

Emperors  Bowing  to  one  Another 250 

Coy 250 

Adelie  keeping  her  Young  One  warm 250 

xii 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

An  Adelie  inspecting  a  Dog 250 

Group  showing  a  Moulting  Penguin 250 

Building  the  Nest 250 

An  Adelie  calling  for  a  Mate  after  commencing  the  Nest 250 

Mother  Bird  leaves  the  Nest 254 

Strangers  displaying  Interest  in  the  Lonely  Chicks 254 

Young  Adelie  and  Parents 254 

An  Adelie  refusing  to  be  frightened 254 

Adelie  trying  to  Mother  a  couple  op  well-grown  Strangers 254 

Emperors  Tobogganing 262 

Birds  rising  from  Snow 262 

A  View  of  the  Rookery  after  a  Blizzard 262 

Emperors  on  the  March 262 

Emperors  at  rest 262 

Killer  Whales  Sounding 266 

Seal  suckling  Young,  and  taking  no  notice  op  the  Motor-car 266 

Joyce  lifting  a  Baby  Seal 266 

Skua  Gulls 266 

Seals  Emerging  from  the  Water  at  their  Blow-holes 266 

Weddell  Seals  Quarrelling 268 

A  Weddell  Seal  Asleep 268 

Some  of  the  Dogs 268 

Priestley  beside  an  erratic  Granite  Boulder  lying  on  Kenyte  at 

Cape  Royds 282 

Granite  erratic  at  Cape  Royds 282 

Summer  effect  on  a  Berg:  Icicles  forming 292 

The  Barrier  Edge  south    of    Hut    Point,  after  the  Sea  Ice   had 

broken  away 292 

xiil 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

Two  ERRATIC  Boulders  of  Granite  on  the  Slopes  of  Erebcs 292 

The  Barrier  Edge  breaking  away  four  miles  sodth  of  Hut  Point.  . . .  302 

A  Weathered  Kentte  Boulder  near  the  Winter  Quarters 306 

Felspar  Crystals  from  Summit  of  Mount  Erebus  (natural  size) 306 

Fossil  Wood  in  Sandstone,  from  a  Moraine  in  Latitude  85°  South  . . .  316 
Blocks  of  Ice  hung  in  the  Wind  at  Winter  Quarters  in  order  to 

ASCERTAIN  THE  RaTE  OF  EVAPORATION 316 

Erebus  in  Eruption,  June  14,  1908 3'Zi 

Side  of  Ferrar  Glacier.     Figure  of  Man  in  lower  left  corner.  . . .  336 

Moraine  Organisms  from  Raised  Beach  S.E.  of  Mount  Larsen,  Vic- 
toria Land  (magnification  IJ) 336 

Stream  op  running  water  in  the  middle  of  the  Ferrar  Glacier  in 

Midsummer 352 

Ice  Crystals  on  Roof  of  the  Hut  Porch 354 

Ice  Formations 354 

Pressure  Ice 358 

Crystals  on  Sea  Ice 358 

Rectangular  Crystals  of  Ice 360 

Ice  Crystals  formed  on  a  line 360 

Ice  Crystals  (The  Reproduction  of  the  Compass  on  the  upper  picture  is 

of  natural  size) 362 

Ice  Crystals  formed  on  the  line  of  a  Fish-trap 366 

A  Photograph  of  the  Aurora  Austbalis.     The  Lights  in  the  Sky 

indicate  the  Position  of  the  Streamers 380 

The  Tide-gauge 392 

MURR.VY  AND  MaWSON  AT  A  HoLE  MADE  IN  ONE  OF  THE  FROZEN  L.'IKES..  392 

Cloud  Spirals  above  Mount  Erebus 404 

Cloud  Spirals  in  Upper  Currents  of  Air  near  Erebcs 404 

Dumb-bell  Cloud  above  Erebus 406 

Panorama  illustrating  the  Northern  Party's  Journey 1  ,  ... 

[  In  pocket  of 

Panorama  of  Mountains  South  of  Mount  Markham J  '"'"'•"3-<^<'»6 

xiv 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 
ILLUSTRATIONS   IN  THE  TEXT 

Section  showing  fobmek  thickness  of  West  Br.vsch  or  Great  Icb 
Babrier  when  it  filled  McMubdo  Sound  at  maximijm  of  Recent 

Glactation 287 

Sections  showing  relative  heights  of  Mountains  and  of  the  Great 

Snow  Plateaux 306 

Fungus — Peat  and  Ice  Deposits 320 

Eruption  of  June  14,  1908 328 

Eruption  of  November  27,  1908 328 

Great  Steam  Eruption,  September  8,  1908 329 

Temperatures  of  Ice  of  Blue  Lake 363 

Diagram  of  Prismatic  Arch,  March  13 371 

Lunar  Halo,  Bright  Patches  and  Beam,  June  12 374 

Inverted  Rings  Round  the  Sun,  Feekuakt  7,  1909 375 

Iridescent  Clouds,  August  22 377 

Earth  Shadows,  April  12 378 

Curved  Line  joining  Erebus  Summit  and  its  Shadow  on  the  Western 

Mountains,  April  12 378 

Earth  Shadows,  October  15 379 

Earth  Shadows,  September  17 380 

Part  of  Curtain  Display,  April  28 387 

Curtain  Band  Circling  Erebus,  Mat  26 388 

Arch  and  Curtain,  June  19 389 

Great  Beam  of  Light,  Mat  23,  1908 390 

Aurora  on  August  31 391 

Diagram  showing  the  Principal  Parts  of  the  Tide-gauge 393 

Tracing  of  Tide  Record  from  Third  Quarter  to  New  Moon  (New 

on  28th)... 394 

Tracing  of  Tide  Record  from  Jult  20  to  27,  1908 395 

XV 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

Wind-driven  Ice  stopped  by  Current  from  Xorth,  March  1G 399 

Eddt  of  Pack  in  McMurdo  Sound,  January  1909 400 

Variation  in  Direction  of  Current,  June  30  to  July  So 400 

The  Curvb  of  Atmospheric  Temperature  from  Cape  Uovds  to  Summit 

of  Erebus 408 

Diagram  showing  D.ult  Means  of  Barometric  Pressure,  Wind  and 

Air  Temperature 411 

Comparisons  of  Temperature 415 

Stratified  Cloud  on  Erebus,  October  13 419 

Spiral  Cloud,  July  23 419 

Spiral  Cloud,  September  25 HO 

Whale-backs,  September  16 421 

Whale-back  Clouds,  September  16 422 

Undulate  Strips  of  Cloud,  July  88 422 

Interlacing  Clouds,  September  16 423 

Saw-edged  Stratus  and  other  Clouds,  October  1,  1908 423 

Water-gauge 444 

MAPS 

In  pocket  of  binding-case 

General  Map  showing  the  Explorations  and  Surveys  of  the 
Expedition 

Route  and  Surveys  of  the  South  Magnetic  Pol.vr  Party 

Route  and  Surveys  of  the  Southern  Journey  Party,  1908-9 


NOTE 

In  the  photographs  the  microscopic  animalt 
are  magnified  about  200  diameters 

xvi 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

SOME  NOTES  ON  THE  SOUTHERN  JOURNEY 

\  A/^  brought  back  with  us  from  the  journey  towards  the 
'  ^  Pole  vivid  memories  of  how  it  feels  to  be  intensely, 
fiercely  hungry.  During  the  period  from  November  15, 
1908,  to  February  23,  1909,  we  had  but  one  full 
meal,  and  that  was  on  Christmas  Day.  Even  then  we 
did  not  keep  the  sense  of  repletion  for  very  long,  for 
within  an  hour  or  two  it  seemed  to  us  that  we  were 
as  hungrj'  as  ever.  Our  daily  allowance  of  food  would 
have  been  a  small  one  for  a  city  worker  in  a  temperate 
climate,  and  in  our  case  hunger  was  increased  by  the 
fact  that  we  were  performing  \agorous  physical  labour 
in  a  very  low  temperature.  We  looked  forward  to 
each  meal  with  keen  anticipation,  but  when  the  food 
was  in  our  hands  it  seemed  to  disappear  without  making 
us  any  the  less  ravenous.  The  evening  meal  at  the 
end  of  ten  hours'  sledging  used  to  take  us  a  long 
time  to  prepare.  The  sledges  had  to  be  unpacked 
and  the  camp  pitched.  Then  the  cooker  w^as  filled 
with  snow  and  the  Primus  lamp  ht,  often  no  easy 
matter  with  our  cold,  frost-bitten  fingers.  The  materials 
for  the  thin  hoosh  would  be  placed  in  the  boiling- 
pot,  with  the  addition,  perhaps,  of  some  pony  maize, 
and  the  allowance  of  tea  was  placed  in  the  outer 
boiler.  The  tea  was  always  put  in  a  strainer,  con- 
sisting  of   a   small   tin   in   which   wt   had   pfunched   a 

1 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

lot  of  holes,  and  it  was  removed  directly  the  water  had 
come  to  the  boil.  We  used  to  sit  round  the  cooker 
waiting  for  our  food,  and  at  last  the  hoosh  would  be 
ready  and  would  be  ladled  into  the  pannikins  by  the 
cook  of  the  week.  The  scanty  allowance  of  biscuit 
would  be  distributed  and  we  would  commence  the  meal. 
In  a  couple  of  minutes  the  hot  food  would  be  gone,  and 
we  would  gnaw  carefully  round  the  sides  of  our  biscuits, 
making  them  last  as  long  as  possible.  IMarshall  used 
sometimes  to  stand  his  pannildn  of  hoosh  in  the  snow 
for  a  little  while,  because  it  got  thicker  as  it  cooled, 
hut  it  was  a  debatable  point  whether  this  paid.  One 
seemed  to  be  getting  more  solid  food,  but  there  was  a 
loss  of  warmth,  and  in  the  minus  temperatures  on  the 
plateau  we  found  it  advisable  to  take  our  hoosh  very  hot. 
We  would  make  the  biscuits  last  as  long  as  possible, 
and  sometimes  we  tried  to  save  a  bit  to  eat  in  the 
sleeping-bag  later  on,  but  it  was  hard  to  do  this.  If 
one  of  us  dropped  a  crumb,  the  others  would  point  it 
out,  and  the  owner  would  wet  his  finger  in  his  mouth 
and  pick  up  the  morsel.  Not  the  smallest  fragment 
was  aDowed  to  escape. 

We  used  to  "  turn  backs  "  in  order  to  ensure  equitable 
division  of  the  food.  The  cook  would  pour  the  hoosh 
into  the  pannikins  and  arrange  the  biscuits  in  four  heaps. 
Perhaps  some  one  would  suggest  that  one  pannikin  had 
rather  less  in  it  than  another,  and  if  this  view  was  endorsed 
by  the  others  there  would  be  a  readjustment.  Then 
when  we  were  all  satisfied  that  the  food  had  been 
divided  as  fairly  as  possible,  one  man  would  turn  his 
back,  and  another,  pointing  at  one  pannikin  or  group  of 
biscuits,  would  say,  "  Whose? "  The  man  who  had  his 
back  turned,  and  therefore  could  not  see  the  food, 
would  give  a  name,  and  so  the  distribution  would 
proceed,  each  of  us  always  feeling  sure  that  the  smallest 

2 


PONY  FLESH 

share  had  fallen  to  our  lot.  At  lunch-time  there  would 
be  chocolate  or  cheese  to  distribute  on  alternate  days, 
and  we  much  jDreferred  the  chocolate  days  to  the  cheese 
days.  The  chocolate  seemed  more  satisfying,  and  it 
was  more  easily  di\dded.  The  cheese  broke  up  into 
very  small  fragments  on  the  march,  and  the  allowance, 
which  amounted  to  two  spoonfuls  per  man,  had  to  be 
divided  up  as  nearly  as  possible  into  four  equal  heaps. 
The  chocolate  could  be  easily  sejiarated  into  sticks  of 
equal  size.  It  can  be  imagined  that  the  cook  for  the 
week  had  no  easy  task.  His  work  became  more  difficult 
still  when  we  were  using  pony-meat,  for  the  meat  and 
blood,  when  boiled  up,  made  a  deUghtful  broth,  while 
the  fragments  of  meat  sunk  to  the  bottom  of  the  pot. 
The  liquor  was  much  the  better  part  of  the  dish,  and  no 
one  had  much  relish  for  the  little  dice  of  tough  and 
stringy  meat,  so  the  cook  had  to  be  very  careful  indeed. 
Poor  old  Chinaman  was  a  particularly  tough  and  stringy 
horse. 

We  found  that  the  meat  from  the  neck  and  rump  was 
the  best,  the  most  stringy  portions  coming  from  the 
ribs  and  legs.  We  took  all  the  meat  we  could,  tough 
or  tender,  and  as  we  went  south  in  the  days  when 
horse-meat  was  fairly  plentiful,  we  used  to  suck  frozen, 
raw  fragments  as  we  marched  along.  Later  we  could 
not  afford  to  use  the  meat  except  on  a  definite  allow- 
ance. The  meat  to  be  used  during  the  day  was  generally 
cut  up  when  we  took  a  spell  in  the  morning,  and  the 
bag  containing  the  fragments  was  hung  on  the  back  of 
the  sledge  in  order  that  the  meat  might  be  softened  by 
the  sun.  It  cut  more  easily  when  frozen  than  when 
partially  thawed,  but  our  knives  gradually  got  blunt, 
and  on  the  glacier  we  secured  a  rock  on  which  to  sharpen 
them.  During  the  journey  back,  when  every  ounce  of 
weight  was  of  great  importance,  we  used  one  of  our 

3 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

geological  specimens,  a  piece  of  sandstone,  as  a  knife- 
sharpener.  The  meat  used  to  bulk  large  in  the  pot, 
but  as  fresh  meat  contains  about  60  per  cent,  of  moisture, 
it  used  to  shrink  considerably  in  the  process  of  cooking, 
and  we  did  not  have  to  use  very  much  snow  in  the  pot. 

We  used  the  meat  immediately  we  had  started  to 
kill  the  ponies  in  order  to  save  the  other  food,  for  we 
knew  that  the  meat  contained  a  very  large  percentage 
of  water,  so  that  we  would  be  carrying  useless  weight 
with  it.  The  pemniican  and  biscuits,  on  the  other 
hand  contained  very  little  moisture,  and  it  was  more 
profitable  to  keep  them  for  the  march  further  south, 
when  we  were  likely  to  want  to  reduce  the  loads  as  far 
as  possible.  We  left  meat  at  each  depot,  to  provide 
for  the  march  back  to  the  coast,  but  always  took  on  as 
much  as  possible  of  the  prepared  foods.  The  reader 
will  understand  that  the  loss  of  Socks,  which  represented 
so  many  pounds  of  meat,  was  a  very  severe  blow  to  us, 
for  we  had  after  that  to  use  sledging  stores  at  the  depots 
to  make  up  for  the  lost  meat.  If  we  had  been  able 
to  use  Socks  for  food,  I  have  no  doubt  that  we  would 
have  been  able  to  get  further  south,  perhaps  even  to 
the  Pole  itself,  though  in  that  case  we  could  hardly 
have  got  back  in  time  to  catch  the  ship  before  she  was 
forced  to  leave  by  the  approach  of  winter. 

When  we  were  living  on  meat  our  desire  for  cereals 
and  farinacious  foods  became  stronger;  indeed  any 
particular  sort  of  food  of  which  we  were  deprived  seemed 
to  us  to  be  the  food  for  which  nature  craved.  Wlien 
we  were  short  of  sugar  we  would  dream  of  sweet-stuffs, 
and  when  biscuits  were  in  short  supply  our  thoughts 
were  concerned  with  crisp  loaves  and  all  the  other 
good  things  displayed  in  the  windows  of  the  bakers' 
shops.  During  the  last  weeks  of  the  journey  outwards, 
and  the  long  march  back,  when  our  allowance  of  fotfd 

4 


INTENSE  HUNGER 

had  been  reduced  to  twenty  ounces  per  man  a  day,  we 
really  thought  of  little  but  food.  The  glory  of  the  great 
mountains  that  towered  high  on  either  side,  the  majesty 
of  the  enormous  glacier  up  which  we  travelled  so  pain- 
fully, did  not  appeal  to  our  emotions  to  any  great 
extent.  JNIan  becomes  very  primitive  when  he  is  hungry 
and  short  of  food,  and  we  learned  to  know  what  it  is 
to  be  desperately  hungry.  I  used  to  wonder  sometimes 
whether  the  people  who  suffer  from  hunger  in  the  big 
cities  of  civilisation  felt  as  we  were  feeling,  and  I  arrived 
at  the  conclusion  that  they  did  not,  for  no  barrier  of 
law  and  order  would  have  been  allowed  to  stand  between 
us  and  any  food  that  had  been  available.  The  man 
who  starves  in  a  city  is  weakened,  hopeless,  spiritless, 
and  we  were  vigorous  and  keen.  Until  January  9  the 
desire  for  food  was  made  the  more  intense  by  our 
knowledge  of  the  fact  that  we  were  steadily  marching 
away  from  the  stores  of  plenty. 

We  could  not  joke  about  food,  in  the  way  that  is 
possible  for  the  man  who  is  hungry  in  the  ordinary 
sense.  We  thought  about  it  most  of  the  time,  and  on 
the  way  back  we  used  to  talk  about  it,  but  always  in 
the  most  serious  manner  possible.  We  used  to  plan 
out  the  enormous  meals  that  we  proposed  to  have 
when  we  got  back  to  the  ship  and,  later,  to  civilisation. 
On  the  outward  march  we  did  not  experience  really 
severe  hunger  until  we  got  on  the  great  glacier,  and 
then  we  were  too  much  occupied  %vith  the  heavy  and 
dangerous  climbing  over  the  rough  ice  and  crevasses 
to  be  able  to  talk  much.  We  had  to  keep  some  distance 
apart  in  case  one  man  fell  into  a  crevasse.  Then  on 
the  plateau  our  faces  were  generally  coated  with  ice, 
and  the  blizzard  wind  blowing  from  the  south  made 
unnecessary  conversation  out  of  the  question.  Those 
were  silent  days,  and  our  remarks  to  one  another  were 

6 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

brief  and  infrequent.  It  was  on  the  march  back  that 
we  talked  freely  of  food,  after  we  had  got  down  the 
glacier  and  were  marching  over  the  barrier  surface. 
The  wind  was  beliind  us,  so  that  the  pulling  Avas  not 
very  heavy,  and  as  there  were  no  crevasses  to  fear  we 
were  able  to  keep  close  together.  We  would  get  up  at 
5  A.M.  in  order  to  make  a  start  at  7  a.m.,  and  after  we 
had  eaten  our  scanty  breakfast,  that  seemed  only  to 
accentuate  hunger,  and  had  begun  the  day's  march, 
we  could  take  turns  in  describing  the  things  we  would 
eat  in  the  good  days  to  come.  We  were  each  going 
to  give  a  dinner  to  the  others  in  turn,  and  there  was 
to  be  an  anniversary  dinner  eveiy  year,  at  which  we 
would  be  able  to  eat  and  eat  and  eat.  Xo  French  chef 
ever  devoted  more  thought  to  the  inventioji  of  new 
dishes  than  we  did. 

It  is  M'ith  strange  feelings  that  I  look  back  over  our 
notes,  and  see  the  M^onderful  meals  that  we  w^re  going 
to  have.  We  used  to  tell  each  other,  with  perfect 
seriousness,  about  the  new  dishes  that  we  had  thought 
of,  and  if  the  dish  met  with  general  approval  there 
would  be  a  chorus  of,  "All!  That's  good."  Sometimes 
there  would  be  an  argument  as  to  whether  a  suggested 
dish  was  really  an  oiiginal  invention,  or  whether  it  did 
not  too  nearly  resemble  something  that  we  had  already 
tasted  in  happier  days.  The  "  Wild  roll  "  was  admitted 
to  be  the  high-w^ater  mark  of  gastronomic  luxury. 
Wild  proposed  that  the  cook  should  take  a  supply  of 
well-seasoned  minced  meat,  wrap  it  in  rashej's  of  fat 
bacon,  and  place  around  the  whole  an  outer  covering 
of  rich  pastry,  so  that  it  would  take  the  form  of  a  big 
sausage-roll.  Then  this  roll  Avould  be  fried  with  plenty 
of  fat.  ]\Iy  best  dish,  which  I  must  admit  I  put  forward 
Avith  a  good  deal  of  pride  as  we  marched  over  the  snow, 
was  a  sardine  pasty,  made  by  placing  well-fried  sardmes 


i'~  rifianaa 


THOUGHTS  OF  FOOD 

inside  pastry.  At  least  ten  tins  of  sardines  were  to  be 
emptied  on  to  a  bed  of  pastry,  and  the  whole  then  rolled 
up  and  cooked,  preparatory  to  its  division  into  four 
equal  portions.  I  remember  one  day  Marshall  came 
forward  with  a  proposal  for  a  thick  roll  of  suet  pudding 
with  plent}'  of  jam  all  over  it,  and  there  arose  quite  a 
heated  argument  as  to  whether  he  could  fairly  claim 
tliis  dish  to  be  an  invention,  or  whether  it  was  not  the 
jam  roll  alreadj^  known  to  the  housewives  of  civilisation. 
There  was  one  point  on  which  we  were  all  agreed,  and 
that  was  that  we  did  not  want  any  jelhes  or  things  of 
that  sort  at  our  future  meals.  The  idea  of  eating  such 
elusive  stuff  as  jelly  had  no  appeal  to  us  at  all. 

On  a  typical  day  during  this  backward  march  we 
would  leave  camp  at  about  6.40  a.m.,  and  half  an  hour 
later  Avould  have  recovered  our  frost-bitten  fingers, 
while  the  moisture  on  our  clothes,  melted  in  the  sleeping- 
bags,  would  have  begun  to  ablate,  after  having  first 
frozen  hard.  We  would  be  beginning  to  march  with 
some  degree  of  comfort,  and  one  of  us  would  remark, 
"  Well,  boys,  what  are  we  going  to  have  for  breakfast 
to-day? "  We  had  just  finished  our  breakfast  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  consisting  of  half  a  pannikin  of  semi-raw 
horse-meat,  one  biscuit  and  a  half  and  a  pannikin  of 
tea,  but  the  meal  had  not  taken  the  keeimess  from  our 
appetites.  We  used  to  try  to  persuade  ourselves  that 
our  half-biscuit  was  not  quite  a  half,  and  sometimes 
we  managed  to  get  a  httle  bit  more  that  way.  The 
question  would  receive  our  most  serious  and  careful 
consideration  at  once,  and  we  would  proceed  to  weave 
from  our  hungry  imaginations  a  tale  of  a  day  spent  in 
eating.  "  Now  we  are  on  board  ship,"  one  man  would 
say.  "  We  wake  up  in  a  bunk,  and  the  first  thing  we 
do  is  to  stretch  out  our  hands  to  the  side  of  the  bunk 
and   get  some  chocolate,   some   Garibaldi   biscuits   and 

1 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

some  apples.  We  eat  those  in  the  bunk,  and  then  we 
get  up  for  breakfast.  Breakfast  will  be  at  eight  o'clock, 
and  we  will  have  porridge,  fish,  bacon  and  eggs,  cold 
ham,  plum  pudding,  sweets,  fresh  roll  and  butter, 
marmalade  and  coffee.  At  eleven  o'clock  we  will  have 
hot  cocoa,  open  jam  tarts,  fried  cods'  roe  and  slices  of 
hea\'y  plum  cake.  That  will  be  all  until  lunch  at  one 
o'clock.  For  lunch  we  will  have  Wild  roll,  shepherd's 
pie,  fresh  soda-bread,  hot  mUk,  treacle  pudding,  nuts, 
raisins  and  cake.  After  that  we  will  turn  in  for  a  sleep, 
and  we  will  be  called  at  3.45,  when  we  will  reach  out 
again  from  the  bmiks  and  have  dough-nuts  and  sweets. 
We  will  get  up  then  and  have  big  cups  of  hot  tea  and 
fresh  cake  and  chocolate  creams.  Dinner  will  be  at 
six,  and  we  will  have  thick  soup,  roast  beef  and  York- 
shire pudding,  cauhflower,  peas,  asparagus,  plum  pud- 
ing,  fruit,  apple-pie  with  tliick  cream,  scones  and 
butter,  port  wine,  nuts,  and  almonds  and  raisins.  Then 
at  midnight  we  will  have  a  really  big  meal,  just  before 
w^e  go  to  bed.  There  will  be  melon,  grilled  trout  and 
butter-sauce,  roast  chicken  with  plenty  of  livers,  a 
proper  salad  with  eggs  and  very  thick  dressing,  green 
peas  and  new-  potatoes,  a  saddle  of  mutton,  fried  suet 
pudding,  peaclies  a  la  Melha,  egg  curry,  plum  pudding 
and  sauce,  Welsh  rarebit,  Queen's  pudding,  angels  on 
horseback,  cream  cheese  and  celery,  fruit,  nuts,  port 
wine,  milk  and  cocoa.  Then  w^e  will  go  to  bed  and 
sleep  till  breakfast  time.  We  will  have  chocolate  and 
biscuits  under  our  pillows,  and  if  we  want  anything  to 
eat  in  the  night  we  will  just  have  to  get  it."  Three  of 
us  would  listen  to  this  programme  and  perhaps  suggest 
amendments  and  improvements,  generally  in  the  direc- 
tion of  additional  dishes,  and  then  another  one  of  us 
would  take  up  the  running  and  sketch  another  glorious 
day  of  feeding  and  sleeping. 


CAUSE  OF  DYSENTERY 

I  daresay  that  all  tliis  sounds  very  greedy  and 
uncivilised  to  the  reader  who  has  never  been  on  the 
verge  of  starvation,  but  as  I  have  said  before,  hunger 
makes  a  man  primitive.  We  did  not  smile  at  our- 
selves or  at  each  other  as  we  planned  wonderful  feats 
of  over-eating.  We  were  perfectly  serious  about  the 
matter,  and  we  noted  do^vTi  in  the  back  pages  of  our 
diaries  details  of  the  meals  that  we  had  decided  to  have 
as  soon  as  we  got  back  to  the  places  where  food  was 
plentiful.  All  the  morning  we  would  allow  our  imagi- 
nations to  run  riot  in  this  fashion.  Then  would  come 
one  o'clock,  and  I  would  look  at  my  watch  and  say, 
"Camp!"  We  would  drop  the  harness  from  our  tired 
bodies  and  pitch  the  tent  on  the  smoothest  place  avail- 
able, and  three  of  us  would  get  inside  to  wait  for  the 
thin  and  scanty  meal,  while  the  other  man  filled  the 
cooker  with  snow  and  fragments  of  frozen  meat.  An 
hour  later  we  would  be  on  the  march  again,  once  more 
thinking  and  talking  of  food,  and  this  would  go  on 
until  the  camp  in  the  evening.  We  would  have  another 
scanty  meal,  and  turn  into  the  sleeping-bags,  to  dream 
wildly  of  food  that  somehow  we  could  never  manage 
to  eat. 

The  dysentery  from  which  we  suffered  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  journey  back  to  the  coast  was  certainly 
due  to  the  meat  from  the  pony  Grisi.  This  animal  was 
shot  one  night  when  in  a  greatly  exhausted  condition, 
and  I  believe  that  his  flesh  was  made  poisonous  by  the 
presence  of  the  toxin  of  exhaustion,  as  is  the  case  with 
animals  that  have  been  hunted.  Wild  was  the  first  to 
suffer,  at  the  time  when  we  started  to  use  Grisi  meat 
M'ith  the  other  meat,  and  he  must  have  been  unfortunate 
enough  to  get  the  greater  part  of  the  bad  meat  on  that 
occasion.  The  other  meat  we  were  using  then  came 
from    Chinaman,   and   seemed   to   be   quite   wholesome. 

9 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

A  few  days  later  we  were  aU  eating  Grisi  meat,  and  we 
all  got  dj'sentery.  The  meat  could  not  have  become 
affected  m  any  way  after  the  death  of  the  pony,  because 
it  froze  hard  within  a  very  short  time.  The  manner 
in  which  we  managed  to  keep  on  marching  when  suffer- 
ing, and  the  speed  with  which  we  recovered  when  we 
got  projier  food,  were  rather  remarkable,  and  the  reason, 
no  doubt,  was  that  the  dysentery  was  simplj^  the  result 
of  the  poison,  and  was  not  produced  by  organic  trouble 
of  any  sort.  We  had  a  strong  wind  behind  us  day  after 
day  during  tliis  period,  and  this  contributed  in  a  very 
large  measure  to  our  safety,  for  in  the  weakened  con- 
dition we  had  then  reached  we  could  not  have  made 
long  marches  against  a  head-wind,  and  without  long 
marches  Ave  would  have  starved  between  the  depots. 
We  had  a  sail  on  the  sledge,  formed  of  the  floorcloth  of 
a  tent,  and  often  the  sledge  would  overrun  us,  though 
at  other  times  it  would  catch  in  a  drift  and  throw  us 
heavily. 

When  Ave  were  travelhng  along  during  the  early 
part  of  the  journey  over  the  level  Barrier  surface,  we 
felt  the  heat  of  the  sun  severely,  though  as  a  matter  of 
fact  the  temperature  was  generally  very  low,  sometimes 
as  low  as  zero  Fahr.  though  the  season  was  the  height 
of  summer.  It  was  quite  usual  to  feel  one  side  of  the 
face  getting  frozen  while  the  other  side  was  being  sun- 
burned. The  ponies  would  have  frozen  perspiration 
on  their  coats  on  the  sheltered  side,  while  the  sun  would 
keep  the  other  side  hot  and  dry,  and  as  the  day  wore 
on  and  the  sun  moved  roinid  the  sky  the  frosted  area 
on  the  animals  would  change  its  position  in  sympathy. 
I  remember  that  on  December  4  we  were  marching 
stripped  to  our  shirts,  and  we  got  very  much  sunburned, 
though  at  noon  that  day  the  air  temperature  showed 
ten   degrees  of  frost.    When  we   started   to   climb   tlie 

10 


FROST-BITE 

glacier  and  mai'ched  close  to  the  rocks,  we  felt  the  heat 
much  more,  for  the  rocks  acted  as  radiators,  and  this 
experience  weighed  with  me  in  deciding  to  leave  all  the 
spare  clotliing  and  equipment  at  the  Upper  Glacier 
Depot,  about  seven  thousand  feet  up.  We  did  not 
exjDect  to  have  to  climb  much  higher,  but,  as  the  reader 
knows,  we  did  not  reach  the  plateau  until  we  had 
climbed  over  ten  thousand  feet  above  sea-level,  and  so 
we  felt  the  cold  extremely.  Our  wind-proof  Burberry 
clotliing  had  become  tliin  by  this  time,  and  had  been 
patched  in  many  places  in  consequence  of  having  been 
torn  on  the  sharp  ice.  The  wind  got  in  through  a  tear 
in  my  Burberry  trousers  one  day  and  I  was  frost-bitten 
on  the  under  part  of  the  knee.  This  frost-bite  developed 
into  an  open  wound,  into  which  the  wool  from  my 
underclotliing  worked,  and  I  had  finally  to  perform  a 
rather  jiainful  operation  with  a  knife  before  the  wound 
would  heal.  We  were  continually  being  frost-bitten 
up  on  the  plateau,  and  when  our  boots  had  begun  to 
give  out  and  we  were  practically  marcliing  on  the  senne- 
grass  inside  the  finnesko,  our  heels  got  frost-bitten.  ^ly 
heels  burst  when  we  got  on  to  hard  stuff,  and  for  some 
time  my  socks  were  caked  mth  blood  at  the  end  of 
every  day's  march.  Finally  Marshall  put  some  "  New- 
skin  "  on  a  pad,  and  that  stuck  on  well  until  the  cracks 
had  healed.  The  scars  are  likely  to  remain  with  me. 
In  the  very  cold  days,  when  our  strength  had  begun  to 
decrease,  we  found  great  difficulty  in  hoisting  the  sail 
on  our  sledge,  for  when  we  lifted  our  arms  above  our 
heads  in  order  to  adjust  the  sail,  the  blood  ran  from  our 
fingers  and  they  promptly  froze.  Ten  minutes  or  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  sometimes  elapsed  before  we  could 
get  the  sledge  properly  rigged.  Our  troubles  with  frost- 
bite were  no  doubt  due  in  a  measure  to  the  lightness 
of    our    clothing,    but    there    was    compensation    in   the 

11 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

speed  with  which  we  were  able  to  travel.  I  have  no 
doubt  at  all  that  men  engaged  in  polar  exploration 
should  be  clothed  as  lightly  as  is  possible,  even  if  there 
is  a  danger  of  frost-bite  when  they  halt  on  the  march. 

The  surface  over  which  we  travelled  during  the 
southern  journey  changed  continually.  Durhig  the 
fii'st  few  days  we  found  a  layer  of  soft  snow  on  top 
of  a  hard  crust,  with  more  soft  snow  underneath  that 
again.  Our  weight  was  sufficient  to  break  through 
the  soft  snow  on  top,  and  if  we  were  pulling  the  increased 
pressure  would  cause  the  crust  to  break  also,  letting 
us  through  into  the  second  layer  of  soft  snow.  This 
surface  made  the  travelling  very  heavy.  Until  we 
had  got  beyond  JNlinna  Bluff  we  often  passed  over  high, 
sharp  sastrugi,  and  beyond  that  we  met  with  ridges 
four  to  six  feet  high.  The  snow  generally  was  dry 
and  powdery,  but  some  of  the  crystals  were  large,  and 
showed  in  reflected  hght  all  the  million  colours  of 
diamonds.  After  we  had  passed  latitude  80°  South 
the  snow  got  softer  day  by  day,  and  the  ponies  would 
often  break  through  the  upper  crust  and  sink  in  right 
up  to  their  bellies.  When  the  sun  was  hot  the  travelling 
would  be  much  better,  for  the  surface  snow  got  near 
the  melting-point  and  formed  a  slippery  layer  not  easily 
broken.  Then  again  a  fall  in  the  temjierature  would 
produce  a  thin  crust,  through  wluch  one  broke  very 
easily.  Between  latitude  80°  South  and  83°  South 
there  were  hard  sastrugi  under  the  soft  snow,  and  the 
hoofs  of  the  horses  suffered  in  consequence.  The 
surface  near  the  land  was  broken  up  by  the  pressure  from 
the  glaciers,  but  right  alongside  the  mountains  there 
was  a  smooth  plain  of  glassy  ice,  caused  by  the  freezing 
of  water  that  had  nm  off  the  rocky  slopes  when  they 
were  warm  under  the  rays  of  the  sun.  This  process 
had  been  proceeding  on  the  snow  slopes  that  we  had 

12 


GLACIER  SURFACES 

to  climb  in  order  to  reach  the  glacier.  Here  at  the 
foot  of  the  glacier  there  were  pools  of  clear  water  round 
the  rocks,  and  we  were  able  to  drink  as  much  as  we 
wanted,  though  the  contact  of  the  cold  water  with  our 
cracked  lips  was  painful. 

The  glacier  itself  presented  every  variety  of  surface, 
from  soft  snow  to  cracked  and  riven  blue  ice,  by-and-by 
the  only  constant  feature  were  the  crevasses,  from  which 
we  were  never  free.  Some  were  entirely  covered  with 
a  crust  of  soft  snow,  and  we  discovered  them  only  when 
one  of  us  broke  through,  and  hung  by  his  harness  from 
the  sledge.  Others  occurred  in  mazes  of  rotten  ice, 
and  were  even  more  difficult  to  negotiate  than  the 
other  sort.  The  least  unpleasant  of  the  crevasses 
were  those  that  were  wide  open  and  easily  seen,  with 
firm  ice  on  either  side.  If  these  crevasses  were  not 
too  wide,  we  would  pull  the  sledges  up  to  the  side, 
then  jump  over,  and  pull  them  after  us.  This  was 
more  difficult  than  it  sounds  from  the  fact  that  the 
ice  gave  only  a  very  uncertain  footing,  but  we  always 
had  the  harness  as  a  safeguard  in  case  of  a  fall.  If 
the  crevasses  were  wide  we  had  to  make  a  detour.  The 
sledges,  owing  to  their  length,  were  not  liable  to  slip 
down  a  crevasse,  and  we  felt  fairly  safe  when  we  were 
securely  attached  to  them  by  the  harness.  When  the 
surface  was  so  bad  that  relay  work  became  necessary 
we  used  to  miss  the  support  of  a  sledge  on  the  back 
journeys.  We  would  advance  one  sledge  half  a  mile 
or  a  mile,  put  up  a  bamboo  pole  to  mark  the  spot,  and 
then  go  back  for  the  other.  We  were  roped  together 
for  the  walk  back  to  the  second  sledge,  but  even  then 
we  felt  a  great  deal  less  secure  than  when  harnessed 
to  one  of  the  long,  heavy  sledges.  On  some  days  we 
had  to  travel  up  steep  slopes  of  smooth  ice,  and  often 
it    became    necessary    to    cut    steps    with    our    ice-axes, 

13 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

and  haul  the  sledges  after  us  with  the  Alpine  rope. 
When  we  had  gone  up  about  sixty  feet,  the  length  of 
the  rope,  we  would  haul  up  the  sledge  to  which  we  had 
attached  the  lower  end,  and  jamb  it  so  that  it  could  not 
slide  back.  Then  one  of  us  would  slide  down  in  order  to 
fix  the  rope  to  the  other  sledge. 

One  of  the  curious  features  of  the  glacier  was  a 
yellow  line,  evidently  an  old  moraine,  extending  for 
thirtj'  or  forty  miles.  The  rocks  of  the  moraine  had 
gradually  sunk  in  out  of  sight,  the  radiation  of  the 
sun's  heat  from  them  causing  the  ice  to  melt  and  let 
them  through,  and  there  had  remained  enough  silt  and 
dust  to  give  the  ice  a  dirty  yellow  ajipea ranee.  The 
travelling  along  this  old  moraine  was  not  so  bad,  but  on 
either  side  of  it  there  was  a  mass  of  pressure  ice, 
caused  bj^  the  constriction  of  the  glacier  between  the 
mountains  to  the  east  and  west.  Unfortunately  we 
brought  back  no  photographs  of  this  portion  of  the 
glacier.  The  number  of  plates  at  our  disposal  >vas 
limited,  and  on  the  outward  march  we  decided  not  to 
take  many  photograjihs  in  case  we  found  interesting 
land  or  mountains  in  the  far  south  nearer  the  Pole.  We 
thought  that  we  would  be  able  to  secure  as  many 
photographs  of  the  glacier  as  we  wanted  on  the  way 
back  if  we  had  the  plates  to  spare,  but  as  a  matter  of 
fact  when  we  did  get  on  to  the  glacier  a  second  time 
we  were  so  short  of  food  that  we  could  not  afford  the 
time  to  unpack  the  camera,  which  had  to  be  stowed 
away  carefully  on  the  sledge  in  order  to  avoid  damage 
to  it. 

JNIany  nights  on  the  glacier  there  was  no  snow  on 
which  to  pitch  the  tents,  and  we  had  to  spend  perhaps 
an  hour  smoothing  out  a  space  on  a  rippled,  sharp- 
pointed  sea  of  ice.  The  pro\'ision  bags  and  sledges 
had  to  be  packed  on  the  snow  cloths  round  the  tents, 

14 


II 


J 

ii 


DIFFICULT  TRAVELLING 

and  it  was  indeed  fortunate  for  us  that  we  did  not  meet 
with  any  bad  weather  while  we  were  marching  up  the 
glacier.  Had  a  blizzard  come  on  while  we  were  asleep, 
it  would  have  scattered  our  goods  far  and  wide,  and 
we  would  have  been  faced  with  a  very  serious  position. 
All  the  time  that  we  were  climbing  the  glacier  we  had 
a  northerly  wind  behind  us,  although  the  direction 
of  the  sastrugi  showed  clearly  that  the  prevailing  wind 
was  from  the  south;  when  we  were  coming  back  later 
in  the  season  the  wind  was  behind  us  all  the  time. 
We  encountered  a  strong  wind  on  the  outward  journey 
when  near  the  top  of  the  glacier,  and  as  the  ice  slopes 
were  covered  with  snow  it  was  difficult  to  pull  the 
sledges  up  them.  When  we  reached  the  same  slopes 
on  the  way  back,  the  summer  sun  had  cleared  the  snow 
from  them,  leaving  clear  ice,  and  we  simply  glissaded 
down  all  but  the  steepest  slopes,  although  one  of  the 
sledge  runners  was  very  badly  torn.  We  had  to  travel 
carefully  on  the  steep  slopes,  for  if  we  had  let  the  sledge 
get  out  of  hand  it  would  have  run  away  altogether, 
and  would  probably  have  been  smashed  up  hundreds 
of  feet  below. 

The  Upper  Glacier  Depot  was  overhung  by  great 
cliffs  of  rock,  shattered  by  the  frosts  and  storms  of 
countless  centuries,  and  many  fragments  were  jioised 
in  such  a  fashion  that  scarcely  more  than  a  touch 
seemed  needed  to  bring  them  hurtling  down.  All 
around  us  on  the  ice  lay  rocks  that  had  recently  fallen 
from  the  heights,  and  we  wondered  whether  some 
boulder  would  come  down  upon  us  while  we  were  in 
camj).  We  had  no  choice  of  a  camping-ground,  as  all 
around  was  rough  ice.  The  cliffs  were  composed  largelj^ 
of  weathered  sandstone,  and  it  was  on  the  same  moun- 
tains, higher  up  the  glacier,  that  the  coal  was  found, 
at  a  point  where  the  slope  was  comparatively  gentle. 

15 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Looking  down  from  this  height,  we  could  see  the  glacier 
stretching  aAvay  to  the  point  of  junction  with  the 
Barrier,  the  mountains  rising  to  east  and  west.  ^lany 
of  the  mountains  to  the  west  of  the  glacier  were  more 
or  less  dome-shaped,  but  there  were  some  sharp  conical 
peaks  to  the  westward  of  the  particular  mountain  under 
which  the  Upper  Glacier  Depot  had  been  placed.  There 
were  three  distinct  peaks,  as  the  photographs  show, 
and  the  plateau  ice  sweeping  down  made  a  long  moraine 
on  the  west  side  of  the  glacier.  To  the  eastward  there 
was  a  long  ridge  of  high  mountains,  fairly  uniform  in 
shape  and  without  any  sharp  peaks,  but  with  ridges, 
apparently  of  granite,  projecting  towards  the  west  and 
so  constricting  the  glacier.  The  mountains  were  distant 
about  twenty-five  miles,  but  well-defined  stratification 
lines  could  plainly  be  seen.  Below  us,  as  we  looked 
from  the  depot,  could  be  seen  the  cumulus  clouds  that 
always  hung  above  the  "  Cloud-JMaker." 

When  we  looked  to  the  south  from  this  depot  w^e 
saw  no  clouds;  there  was  notliing  but  hard  clear  sky. 
The  sky  gave  no  indication  of  the  blizzard  winds  that 
were  to  assail  us  when  we  reached  the  plateau,  and 
after  w^e  had  gone  as  far  south  as  we  could  and  retraced 
our  footsteps  to  the  depot,  we  looked  back  and  saw 
the  same  clear  sky,  with  a  few  A\isps  of  fleecy  cloud 
in  it.  We  had  no  doubt  that  below  those  clouds  the 
pitiless  gale  was  still  raging  across  the  great  frozen 
plain,  and  that  the  ^\nnd  which  followed  us  during  our 
march  back  to  the  coast  was  coming  from  the  \'icinity 
of  the  Pole.  As  we  advanced  from  the  Upper  Glacier 
Depot  we  came  upon  great  ice  falls.  The  surface  looked 
smooth  from  a  distance,  and  we  thought  that  we  were 
actuall}'^  on  the  plateau,  but  as  we  advanced  we  saw 
that  before  us  lay  enormous  ridges  rising  abruptly. 
We  had  to  relay  our  gear  over  these  ridges,  and  often 

16 


RIDGES  AND   CREVASSES 

at  the  tops  there  would  be  a  great  crevasse,  from  which 
would  radiate  smaller  crevasses  fringed  with  crystals 
and  sho^nng  ghastly  dej^ths  below.  We  would  creep 
forward  to  see  what  lay  on  the  other  side,  and  perhaps 
would  find  a  fall  of  fifty  feet,  with  a  grade  of  about 
1  in  3.  JNIany  times  we  risked  our  sledge  on  very 
severe  slopes,  allowing  it  to  glissade  down,  but  other 
times  the  danger  of  a  smash  was  too  great,  and  we  had 
to  lower  the  sledge  slowly  and  carefully  with  the  rope. 
The  ice  was  safe  enough  to  walk  upon  at  tliis  time 
except  at  the  ridges,  where  the  crevasses  were  severe, 
for  the  smaller  crevasses  in  the  hollows  and  slopes  could 
be  passed  without  difficulty. 

The  ice  falls  delayed  us  a  good  deal,  and  then  we  got 
into  soft  snow,  over  which  the  sledge  dragged  heavily. 
We  thought  that  we  were  finally  on  the  plateau  level, 
but  within  a  few  days  we  came  to  fresh  ridges  and 
waves  of  pressure  ice.  The  ice  between  the  waves  was 
very  rotten,  and  many  times  we  fell  through  when  we 
put  our  weight  on  it.  We  fastened  the  Alpine  rope  to 
the  sledge  harness,  and  the  first  man  pulled  at  a  distance 
of  about  eighteen  feet  from  the  sledge,  while  the  whole 
party  was  so  scattered  that  no  two  men  could  fall  into 
a  crevasse  together.  We  got  on  to  better  ground  by 
steering  to  the  westward,  but  this  step  was  rather 
dangerous,  for  b\'  taking  this  course  we  travelled 
parallel  with  the  crevasses  and  were  not  able  to  meet  them 
at  right  angles.  IMany  times  we  nearly  lost  the 
sledge  and  ourselves  when  the  ice  started  to  break  away 
into  an  unseen  crevasse  running  parallel  with  our  course. 
We  felt  very  grateful  to  Pro\'idence  that  the  weather 
remained  clear,  for  we  could  not  have  moved  a  yard  over 
this  rotten  ice  in  thick  weather  without  courting  disaster. 
I  do  not  know  whether  the  good  weather  we  experienced 
in    that    neighbourhood    was    normal.      We    generally 

Vol.  II.— 2  17 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

had  about  seven  miles  of  easy  going  after  we  had 
passed  one  ridge  in  this  area,  and  then  another  ridge 
would  rise  up  ahead  of  us,  and  we  would  start  to 
climb  again.  There  were  always  crevasses  at  the  top  of 
the  ridges,  suggesting  that  the  ice  was  moving  over  land 
at  no  great  depth. 

We  passed  the  last  ridge  at  last,  and  reached  the 
actual  plateau,  but  instead  of  hard  neve,  such  as  the 
Discovery  expedition  had  encountered  in  the  journey 
to  the  plateau  beyond  the  mountains  west  of  INIcMurdo 
Sound,  we  found  soft  snow  and  hard  sastrugi.  All 
the  sastrugi  pointed  to  the  south,  and  the  wind  blew 
strongly  nearly  all  the  time  from  the  south  or  south- 
east, with  an  occasional  change  to  the  south-west. 
Sometimes  we  marched  on  hard  sastrugi,  and  at  other 
times  we  had  soft  snow  under  our  feet,  but  could 
feel  the  sastrugi  on  which  the  snow  was  h'ing.  I 
formed  the  opinion  that  during  the  winter  on  the 
plateau  the  wind  must  blow  with  terrible  violence  from 
the  south,  and  that  the  hard  sastrugi  are  produced 
then.  Still  further  south  we  kept  breaking  through 
a  hard  crust  that  underlay  the  soft  surface  snow,  and 
we  then  sank  in  about  eight  inches.  This  surface, 
which  made  the  marching  heaAy,  continued  to  the 
point  at  which  we  planted  the  flag.  After  the  long 
blizzard,  from  the  night  of  January  6  until  tlie  morning 
of  January  9,  we  had  a  better  surface  over  which  to  make 
our  final  march  soutliwards,  for  the  wind  had  swept  the 
soft  snow  away  and  produced  a  fairly  hard  surface, 
over  which,  unencumbered  wth  a  sledge  as  we  were, 
we  could  advance  easily. 

We  found  the  surface  generally  to  be  improved 
on  the  march  back.  The  blizzard  ^\^nds  had  removed 
the  soft  surface  snow,  and  incidentally  uncovered  many 
of    the   crevasses.      We    were    following    our    outward 

18 


PAINFUL  FALLS 

tracks,  and  often  I  noticed  the  tracks  lead  us  to  the 
edge  of  a  crevasse  wliich  had  been  covered  previously 
and  over  wliich  we  had  passed  in  ignorance  of  our  danger 
on  the  march  southwards.  When  we  got  to  the  head 
of  the  glacier  we  tried  to  take  a  short  cut  to  the  point 
where  yse  had  left  the  Upper  Glacier  Depot,  but  we  got 
enmeshed  in  a  maze  of  crevasses  and  pressure  ridges 
to  the  eastward,  and  so  had  to  steer  in  a  westerly  direc- 
tion agam  in  order  to  get  clear.  The  dangers  that  we 
did  know  were  preferable  to  those  that  we  did  not 
know.  On  the  way  down  the  glacier  we  found  all  the 
snow  stripped  away  by  the  wind  and  sun  for  nearly 
one  hundred  miles,  and  we  travelled  over  sKppery  blue 
ice,  with  innumerable  cracks  and  sharp  edges.  We 
had  many  painful  falls  during  this  part  of  the  journey. 
Then  when  about  forty  miles  from  the  foot  of  the  glacier 
we  got  into  deep  soft  snow  again,  over  which  rapid 
progress  was  impossible.  There  had  CA-idently  been 
a  heavy  snowfall  in  tliis  area  ■\\hile  we  were  further 
south,  and  for  days,  while  our  food  was  running  short, 
we  could  see  ahead  of  us  the  rocks  under  which  the 
depot  had  been  placed.  We  toiled  with  painful  sloA\Tiess 
towards  the  rocks,  and  as  the  reader  has  already-  learned, 
we  were  without  any  food  at  all  for  the  last  tliirty  hours 
of  that  march.  We  found  the  Barrier  surface  to  be 
very  soft  when  we  got  off  the  Glacier,  but  after  we 
had  passed  Grisi  Depot  there  was  an  improvement. 
The  surface  remained  fairly  good  until  we  reached  the 
winter  quarters,  and  in  view  of  our  weakened  condition 
it  was  fortunate  for  us  that  it  did  so. 

In  reviewing  the  experience  gained  on  the  southern 
journey,  I  do  not  think  that  I  could  suggest  any  improve- 
ment in  equipment  for  any  future  expedition.  The 
Barrier  surface  e^^idently  varies  in  a  remarkable  fasliion, 
and  its  condition  cannot  be  anticipated  with  any  degree 

19 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

of  certainty.  The  traveller  must  be  prepared  for 
either  a  hard  surface  or  a  very  soft  one,  and  he  may 
get  both  surfaces  in  the  course  of  one  days  march. 
The  eleven-foot  sledge  is  thoroughly  suitable  for  the 
work,  and  our  method  of  packing  the  stores  and  hauling 
the  sledges  did  not  develop  anji"  weak  points.  We 
would  have  been  glad  to  have  had  crampons  for  use 
on  the  glacier;  what  would  be  better  still  would  be 
heavy  Alpine  boots  with  nails  all  round,  for  very  often 
the  surface  would  give  little  grip  to  crampons,  which 
would  only  touch  the  rough  ice  at  one  or  two  points. 
The  temperature  is  too  cold  to  permit  of  the  explorer 
wearing  ordinary  leather  boots,  and  some  boot  would 
have  to  be  designed  capable  of  keeping  the  feet  warm 
and  carrying  the  nails  all  round.  A  mast  consisting 
of  a  bamboo  lashed  to  the  forward  oil-box  proved  as 
efficient  as  could  be  required  for  use  in  connection  with 
a  sail  on  the  sledges.  It  was  easily  rigged  and  had 
no  elaborate  stays.  I  would  suggest  no  change  in  the 
clothing,  for  the  light  woollen  underclothing,  with 
tliin  windproof  material  outside,  proved  most  satis- 
factory in  everj'  way.  We  could  certainly  not  have 
travelled  so  fast  had  we  been  wearing  the  regidation 
pilot  cloth  garment  generally  used  in  polar  exploration. 
Our  experience  made  it  obvious  that  a  party  which  hojies 
to  reacli  the  Pole  must  take  more  food  per  man  than 
we  did,  but  how  the  additional  weight  is  to  be  provided 
for  is  a  matter  for  individual  consideration.  I  would 
not  take  cheese  again,  for  although  it  is  a  good  food, 
we  did  not  find  it  as  palatable  as  chocolate,  which  is 
practically  as  sustaining.  Our  other  foods  were  all 
entirely  satisfactory. 

Each  member  of  the  Southern  Party  had  his  own 
particular  duties  to  perform.  Adams  had  charge  of 
the  meteorology,  and  Iiis  work  involved  the  taking  of 

20 


SOUTHERN  PARTY  DUTIES 

temperatures  at  regular  intervals,  and  the  boiling  of 
the  hypsometer,  sometimes  several  times  in  a  day. 
He  took  notes  during  the  day,  and  wrote  up  the  observa- 
tions at  night  in  the  sleeping-bag.  JNIarshall  was  the 
cosmographer  and  took  the  angles  and  bearings  of  all 
the  new  land;  he  also  took  the  meridian  altitudes 
and  the  compass  variation  as  we  went  south.  When  a 
meridian  altitude  was  taken,  I  generally  had  it  checked 
by  each  member  of  the  party,  so  that  the  mean  could 
be  taken. 

Marshall's  work  was  about  the  most  uncomfortable 
possible,  for  at  the  end  of  a  day's  march,  and  often  at 
lunch-time,  he  would  have  to  stand  in  the  biting  wind 
handling  the  screws  of  the  theodolite.  The  map  of 
the  journey  was  prepared  by  Marshall,  who  also  took 
most  of  the  photographs.  Wild  attended  to  the  repair 
of  the  sledges  and  equipment,  and  also  assisted  me 
in  the  geological  observ^ations  and  the  collection  of 
specimens.  It  was  he  who  found  the  coal  close  to  the 
Upper  Glacier  Depot.  I  kept  the  courses  and  distances, 
worked  out  observations  and  laid  down  our  directions. 
We  all  kept  diaries.  I  had  two,  one  my  observation  book, 
and  the  other  the  narrative  diary,  reproduced  in  the  first 
volume. 


SUMMER  AT  THE  WINTER  QUARTERS 

X^TE  were  distant  about  thirty-two  miles  from  Hut 
'  '  Point  when  1  decided  to  send  the  supporting-party 
back.  The  men  watched  us  move  off  across  the  white 
plain  until  we  became  mere  dots  on  the  wide  expanse, 
and  then  loaded  up  their  gear  and  started  north. 
Joyce  was  left  in  charge  of  the  party,  and  he  decided  to 
make  one  forced  march  to  Hut  Point.  They  had  to  cross 
a  good  deal  of  crevassed  ice,  but  a  special  effort  would 
enable  them  to  make  their  next  camp  under  shelter. 
They  got  under  way  at  7  a.m.  and  marched  till  noon, 
making  good  progress  in  spite  of  the  surface.  In  the 
afternoon  they  marched  from  two  till  five  o'clock,  and 
then  a  final  march,  from  7  r.M.  till  1.30  a.m.,  took  them 
to  the  old  Discuverij  hut.  The  only  incident  of  the  day 
had  been  the  succumbing  of  Brocklehurst's  feet  to 
another  attack  of  frost-bite,  he  having  worn  ski-boots 
when  the  other  men  had  put  on  finnesko.  The  damage 
was  not  serious,  although  the  sufferer  himself  had  trouble 
Avith  his  feet  for  some  time  after.  The  party  had 
covered  thirtj'-two  miles  in  fourteen  hours  and  a  half, 
very  good  marching  in  view  of  the  soft  and  broken 
character  of  the  surface. 

The  party  left  Hut  Point  on  the  morning  of 
November  12,  and  had  a  hard  pull  to  Glacier  Tongue. 
They  at  first  thought  of  camping  on  the  southern  side  of 
the  Tongue,  but,  fortunately,  kept  on,  for  on  the  other 
side  they  met  Day,  ^lurray  and  Roberts,  who  had  brought 
out  stores  with  the  motor-car.    I  had  left  orders  that 

22 


WORK  AT  THE   HUT 

about  1800  lb.  of  provisions  and  gear  should  be  taken 
to  the  depot  there,  as  a  provision  for  the  sledging-parties, 
in  case  they  should  be  cut  off  from  Cape  Royds  bj^  open 
water  on  their  return.  Day  had  succeeded  in  running 
the  car  right  up  to  the  Tongue,  about  twelve  miles 
from  winter  quarters.  After  a  good  meal  of  biscuits, 
jam,  lobscouse,  tongue  and  cods'  roe,  the  two  parties 
joined  in  getting  the  stores  up  to  the  depot.  Then 
they  all  went  back  to  the  winter  quarters  on  the  car 
and  the  light  sledges  it  had  in  tow,  leaving  the 
hea\y  sledge  that  had  been  used  by  the  support- 
ing-party to  be  brought  in  at  some  later  opportunity. 
They  reached  the  hut  in  the  small  hours  of  the 
morning,  and  after  another  meal  turned  hi  for  a  good 
sleep. 

Routine  work  occupied  the  men  at  the  hut  for  some 
time  after  the  return  of  the  supporting-party.  The 
scientific  members  were  more  than  a  little  grieved  to 
find  that  during  the  days  when  the  hut  had  been  un- 
tenanted, for  j\Iurraj%  Day  and  Roberts  had  been  away 
too  on  a  small  expedition,  some  of  the  dogs  had  managed 
to  get  loose,  and  had  killed  thirty  or  forty  jienguins. 
We  had  from  the  fii'st  tried  very  hard  to  avoid  any 
accidents  of  tliis  sort,  for  we  did  not  want  to  cause  any 
unnecessary  destruction  of  animal  hfe.  The  penguins 
were  now  laying,  and  the  men  found  that  the  eggs  were 
very  good  to  eat.  The  egg  of  the  penguin  is  about  the 
same  size  as  that  of  a  duck,  and  it  has  a  transparent, 
jelly-like  white  and  a  small  yolk.  It  takes  about  eight 
minutes'  boiling  to  cook  the  egg  nicely,  and  ten  minutes 
if  it  is  required  set  hard  to  the  centre.  The  shell  is  the 
most  beautiful  dark-green  inside,  while  the  outer  shell 
is  chalky  and  white,  though  generally  stained  prettily 
by  guano.  Murray  set  aside  a  certain  portion  of  the 
rookery  for  the  supply  of  eggs  for  "  domestic  purposes," 

23 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

partly  in  order  to  ensure  freshness  and  partly  in  order 
to  ascertain  how  many  eggs  the  penguins  would  lay. 
The  other  portion  of  the  rookery  was  left  untouched  in 
order  that  the  development  and  education  of  the  young 
penguins  might  be  studied. 

The  scientific  work  in  its  various  branches  was 
carried  on  by  the  men  at  the  winter  quarters,  and  they 
made  a  series  of  small  expeditions  to  points  of  interest 
in  the  surrounding  country.  "  To-day  we  motored  to 
Tent  Island  via  Inaccessible  Island,"  wrote  Priestley 
on  November  14.  "  The  main  object  of  the  expedition 
was  to  enable  Joyce  to  kill  and  skin  some  young  seals, 
but  we  did  geological  work  as  well.  Day,  Joyce, 
Murray  and  myself  were  the  party,  and  when  the  motor 
was  pulled  up  opposite  Inaccessible  Island  three  of  us 
strolled  over  to  look  at  its  western  slopes.  We  did 
not  have  time  to  climb,  but  the  island  from  that  side 
consists  entirely  of  a  flow  of  massive  basalt,  with 
small  porphyritic  felspars,  which  show  out  best  in  the 
■weathered  specimens.  The  sheet  of  basalt  appeared 
to  be  dipping  to  the  south.  Day  endeavoured  to  join 
us,  but  he  chose  a  bad  place,  and  got  so  deep  in  the 
drift  that  his  axle  was  aground,  so  he  was  obliged  to 
reverse  engines  and  back  out.  From  there  we  pro- 
ceeded to  Tent  Island,  and  after  Joyce  had  picked  out 
a  young  seal  and  started  operations,  IMurray,  Day  and  I 
climbed  up  a  water-worn  gully  on  the  island  and  had  a 
cursory  look  at  the  rocks,  which  are  an  agglomerate 
with  very  coarse  fragments;  capping  the  agglomerate 
there  is  a  massive  flow  of  kenyte.  .  .  .  Day  photographed 
the  lower  slopes  of  the  gully  while  IVIurray  and  I  climbed 
the  rock-slopes  till  they  ended,  and  then  cut  steps  up 
a  snow  slope,  at  the  top  of  which  I  came  across  a  snow 
cornice  and  nearly  got  into  trouble  getting  through  it. 
On  reaching  the  top   we  walked   along  the  ridge,  and 

24 


A  6kai,  destinkd  fok  thk  Lardeb 


*=•>■         ,  *  ^K^^ 


X^LTcuiNti  Snow  you  Cookinl;  I'ukposes 


Tkanspoutusg  a  Sledge  over  bxrb  Rocks  for  the  Summer  Journey  to  the  Slopes  of 

Mount  Erebus 


W^ 


\hA.>lllL     LuNE    OX    THE    SlOPES    OF    MoLM     i>hLBLa 


ON  TENT  ISLAND 

photographed  a  splendid  weathered  ken}i;e  boulder, 
hollowed  out  like  a  summer-house,  and  studded  with 
felspars  as  an  old-fasliioned  church  door  is  studded 
with  nails.  After  taking  these  photographs  we  cHmbed 
down  the  other  side  of  the  island,  and  walked  round 
to  join  the  others.  The  rock-climbing  here,  on  any 
slopes  at  all  steep,  is  very  difficult  because  of  the 
weathered  fragments,  which,  owing  to  lack  of  powerful 
natural  agents  of  transportation  and  to  the  fact  that 
the  wind  carries  all  the  lightest  soil  away,  are  left  Ipng 
just  at  their  angle  of  rejjose;  a  false  step  may  send 
mountaineer  and  mountain  surface  hurtlmg  down  fifty 
or  a  hundred  feet — no  agreeable  sensation,  as  I  know 
from  frequent  experience.  The  sun  was  very  hot 
to-day,  and  the  gully  was  occuijied  by  a  little  stream 
which  was  carrying  quite  a  quantity  of  light  soil  down 
with  it. 

Day  had  an  exciting  experience  with  the  car  during 
this  journey.  He  encountered  a  big  crack  in  the  ice 
near  Cape  Barne,  and  steering  at  right  angles  to  its 
course,  put  on  speed  in  order  to  "  fly  "  it  in  the  usual 
way.  When  only  a  few  yards  from  it  and  traveUing 
at  a  speed  of  about  fifteen  miles  an  hour,  he  found  that 
the  crack  made  a  sudden  turn,  so  as  to  follow  the  line 
he  was  taking,  and  an  instant  later  liis  right-hand  front 
wheel  dropped  in.  Any  weak  points  in  the  car  would 
have  been  discovered  by  the  sudden  strain,  but  happily 
nothing  broke,  and  the  crack  making  another  turn,  the 
wheel  bounded  out  at  the  elbow,  and  the  car  was  on  sound 
ice  again. 

On  November  16  Priestley  made  an  interesting  trip 
up  the  slopes  of  Erebus.  Beyond  the  lower  moraines 
and  separated  from  them  by  a  snow-field  of  considerable 
size,  he  found  a  series  of  ken\i:e  ridges  and  cones, 
covered  by  verj'  little  debris.     The  ridges  continued  for 

25 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

some  distance  to  the  edge  of  the  main  glacier,  where 
they  terminated  in  several  well-marked  nunataks.  "  One 
which  I  visited,  and  wliich  was  the  nearest  to  the  large 
parasitic  cone,  was  eighty  feet  high,  of  massive  kenyte 
of  brown  colour  and  close  texture,  jointed  into  very 
large  cubical  joints  by  a  very  complete  series  of  master- 
joints.  From  this  nunatak  I  obtained  nine  kinds  of 
lichen,  including  four  or  five  new  species,  and  one  j)iece 
of  moss.  One  of  the  lichens  was  so  much  larger  than 
the  others  and  branched  so  much  that  it  might  -well 
be  called  a  forest-lichen,  and  ^Murray  considers  it  to  be 
very  closelj'  allied  to  the  reindeer-moss,  or  ice-moss." 

Joyce  was  engaged  at  this  time  in  making  zoological 
collections,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  motor-car  he  was 
able  to  cover  a  great  deal  of  ground.  The  motor-car, 
driven  bj^  Day,  would  take  Iiim  fifteen  or  sixteen  miles 
over  the  sea-ice  to  some  suitable  locality,  generally 
near  the  Cathedral  Rocks  on  the  north  side  of  Glacier 
Tongue,  and  leave  him  there  to  kill  seals  and  penguins. 
In  order  to  kill  young  seals,  some  specimens  of  which 
were  required,  he  had  first  to  drive  the  mothers  away, 
and  this  often  took  a  long  time,  as  the  female  seal 
becomes  aggressive  when  interfered  wth  in  this  manner. 
The  work  was  not  at  all  pleasant,  but  Joyce  killed  and 
prepared  for  preservation  five  young  Weddell  seals  and 
four  adult  specimens.  He  had  taken  lessons  in  taxi- 
dermy before  leaving  England  in  order  to  be  ready  for 
this  duty.  Joyce  and  Day  also  killed  and  skinned 
twenty  Emperor  penguins,  twelve  Adelie  penguins  and 
twelve  skua  gulls,  and  all  the  men  at  the  winter  quarters 
assisted  in  collecting  eggs. 

IMurray  was  looking  after  the  scientific  work,  paying 
special  attention  to  his  own  particular  domain,  that  of 
biology,  and  INIarston  was  devoting  as  much  time  as  he 
could  to  sketching  and  jiainting.    He  had  taken   oils, 

26 


'J'HE  RETURNING  SUN 


t 


3 

^ 
o 
2 


ANTARCTIC   COLOURING 

water-colours  and  pastels  to  the  south  with  him.  He 
found  that  the  water-colours  could  not  be  used  in  the 
open  at  all,  for  they  froze  at  once.  Oils  could  be  used 
fairly  comfortably  in  the  summer,  though  it  was  always 
chilly  work  to  sit  stiU  for  any  length  of  time;  during 
the  spring  the  oils  froze  after  they  had  been  m  the 
open  air  for  about  an  hour,  so  that  steady  work  was 
not  possible.  The  pastels  could  always  be  used  for 
making  "  colour  notes,"  and  they  were  also  used  for 
some  of  the  colour-sketches  that  are  reiJroduced  in  tliis 
book.  JNlits  had  to  be  worn  for  all  outside  work,  and 
this  made  sketching  difficult. 

Marston  found,  as  other  artists  have  found,  that 
Nature's  color-schemes  in  the  Antarctic  are  remarkably 
crude,  though  often  wondrously  beautiful.  Bright  blues 
and  greens  are  seen  in  violent  contrast  with  brilliant 
reds,  and  an  accurate  record  of  the  colours  displayed 
in  a  sunset,  as  seen  over  broken  ice,  would  suggest  to 
many  people  an  impressionistic  jioster  of  the  kind  seen 
in  the  London  streets.  Words  fail  one  in  an  attempt 
to  describe  the  wildly  bizarre  effects  observed  on  days 
when  the  sky  was  fiery  red  and  pale  green,  merging  into 
a  deep  blue  overhead,  and  the  snow-fields  and  rocks 
showed  violet,  gi*een  and  white  under  the  light  of  the  moon. 
Marston  used  to  delight  in  the  "  grey  days,"  wlien 
there  was  no  direct  sunlight  and  the  snow  all  around 
showed  the  most  subtle  tones  of  grey;  there  would  be 
no  shadows  anjrvvhere,  perhaps  light  drifts  of  snow  would 
be  blowing  about,  and  the  whole  scene  became  like 
a  frozen  fairyland.  The  snow-bergs  and  snow-fields 
were  white  under  direct  light,  but  any  hollows  showed 
a  vivid  blue,  deepening  almost  to  black  in  the  depths. 
There  was  an  unlimited  amount  of  interesting  work 
for  an  artist,  and  INIarston  suffered  to  some  extent,  as 
did  the  other  specialists  on  the  expedition,  from  the  fact 

27 


THE   HEART  OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

that  the  number  of  men  available  was  so  small  that  every 
one,  in  addition  to  his  own  work,  had  to  take  a  share  in 
the  routine  duties. 

Joyce  devoted  what  spare  time  he  could  find  to  the 
completion  of  the  volumes  of  the  "  Aurora  Australis." 
Practice  had  made  him  more  skilful  in  the  handling  of 
type,  and  he  was  able  to  make  a  good  deal  of  progress, 
Day  assisting  with  the  preparation  of  the  Venesta 
boards  in  which  the  volumes  were  to  be  bound.  Some 
of  the  contributions  towards  the  literary  part  of  the  work 
had  come  in  late,  so  that  there  was  plenty  of  work  left 
to  do.  ^Marston  went  on  with  the  lithographing  for  the 
illustrations. 

Instructions  had  been  left  for  a  geological  recon- 
naisance  to  be  made  towards  the  northern  slopes  of 
Mount  Erebus,  to  examine,  if  possible,  some  parasitic 
cones  and  the  oldest  main  crater  of  the  mountain. 
Threatening  weather  prevented  the  carrying  out  of 
this  plan  for  some  time,  yet  for  nearly  a  fortnight  after 
the  return  of  the  southern  supporting-party  the  expected 
blizzard  did  not  come,  while  the  weather  was  not  pro- 
pitious for  the  journey.  At  length  no  further  delay  was 
possible  if  the  trip  was  to  be  made,  as  Priestly,  the  geol- 
ogist, had  to  leave  for  the  western  mountains,  so  on 
November  23  the  trip  was  begun,  though  with  misgivings 
as  to  the  long  overdue  blizzard. 

The  party  consisted  of  Priestle}%  Marston,  Joyce, 
Murray  and  Brocklehurst,  and  they  took  seventy  pounds 
of  food — a  week's  supply  on  the  ordinary  basis  of  thirty- 
two  ounces  per  day  for  each  man — but  carried  only  one 
tent,  intended  to  hold  three  men,  their  idea  being  that  one 
or  two  men  could  sleep  in  the  bags  outside  the  tent.  The 
weather  was  fine  when  they  left  the  hut,  but  in  the 
afternoon  a  strong  southerly  wind  sprang  up,  and  they 
had  to  march  through  low  drift.     They  camped  for  the 

28 


A  BLIZZARD  ON  EREBUS 

night  close  to  a  steep  nunatak  about  five  miles  from 
the  hut  and  nearly  two  thousand  feet  above  sea-level. 
There  was  difficulty  in  getting  a  good  snowy  camping- 
ground,  and  they  had  to  put  up  the  tent  on  smooth  blue 
glacier  ice,  having  a  thin  coating  of  snow,  and  sloping 
gently  down  till  it  terminated  in  an  ice-clifF  overlooking 
the  sea  not  many  hundreds  of  yards  below.  After 
dinner  Priestley,  ^Murray  and  Joyce  climbed  over  the 
nunataks,  and  found  several  new  lichens,  but  the 
specimens  collected  were  lost  in  the  blizzard  later  on. 
Priestley  also  found  a  number  of  very  perfect  felspar 
crystals  weathered  out  of  the  kenyte,  and  collected  a 
couple  of  handfuls  of  the  best.  The  members  of  the 
party  retired  to  their  sleeping-bags  at  eight  o'clock  on 
Monday  night,  and  before  midnight  a  bhzzard  swept 
down  upon  them,  and  proved  to  be  an  exceptionally 
severe  one,  with  dense  drift.  Priestley  had  volunteered 
to  sleep  outside  that  night,  and  had  taken  his  sleeping- 
bag  to  a  nook  in  the  rocks  some  distance  away.  When 
the  other  men  heard  the  roaring  of  the  blizzard  they  looked 
out,  and  were  reassured  to  find  that  he  had  come  down 
wliile  there  was  time  and  had  lain  down  close  by  the  tent. 
The  first  night  the  light  snow  round  the  tent  was  blown 
away  leaving  one  side  open  to  the  wind,  but  the  occupants 
were  able  to  find  a  few  bits  of  rock  close  by,  and  secured 
it  Avith  those. 

"  Inside  the  tent  for  the  next  three  days  we  were 
warm  enough  in  our  sleeping-bags,"  wrote  JNIurray  iii 
his  report.  "  Though  we  could  not  cook  anything  we 
ate  the  dry  biscuit  and  pemmican.  The  little  snow 
under  the  floorcloth  was  squeezed  in  the  hand  till  it 
became  ice,  and  we  sucked  this  for  drink.  We  were 
anxious  about  Priestley,  and  occasionally  opened  the 
door-flap  and  hailed  him,  when  he  always  replied  that 
he  was  all  right.    Joyce  had  managed  to  pass  him  some 

29 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

food  early  in  the  storm,  so  there  was  no  fear  of  starving, 
but  as  we  learned  afterwards  he  could  get  nothing  to 
drink  and  so  could  not  eat.  No  one  could  offer  to 
change  places  with  him,  as  in  doing  so  the  sleeping-bag 
would  have  filled  with  snow,  and  might  have  blown 
away.  On  ^Vednesday  INIarston  dressed  in  his  Burberries 
and  crawled  down  to  Priestley,  who  reported  "  All  well," 
but  he  had  had  no  food  for  twenty-four  hours.  ISIarston 
gave  him  some  biscuits  and  chocolate.  On  Thursdaj^ 
mornuig  he  replied  to  the  hail,  but  he  was  getting  further 
and  further  from  the  tent,  as  every  time  he  moved  he 
slipped  a  little  bit  do^vn  the  smooth  glacier.  At  mid- 
day there  was  no  reply  to  our  hail,  and  we  thought  of 
the  j^recipitious  ice-foot  and  imagined  things.  Joyce  and 
I  dressed  and  went  out  to  seek  him.  The  drift  was  so 
thick  that  nothing  whatever  could  be  seen,  and  when 
the  head  was  lifted  to  try  and  look  the  whole  face  and 
eyes  were  instant!)'  covered  by  a  sheet  of  ice.  We 
crept  about  on  hands  and  knees  looking  for  the  lost 
man.  The  only  chance  of  getting  back  to  the  tent  again 
was  to  steer  by  the  wind,  down  the  wind  looking  for 
Priestley,  up  the  wind  home  again.  At  one  side  the 
sledge  lay,  forming  a  landmark,  and  Priestley  had  been 
not  very  far  from  the  far-away  end.  Creeping  along 
the  sledge  to  where  he  had  lain,  I  found  that  he  was 
not  there.  Joyce  went  a  little  further  to  the  right  and 
came  upon  him,  all  alive." 

Priestley's  experiences  during  this  period  are  related 
in  his  diary.  "  I  had  volunteered  to  sleep  in  the  bag 
outside  the  tent,"  he  wrote,  "  and  by  the  time  I  was 
i-eady  to  turn  in  the  drift  had  started  again  pretty 
badly,  and  the  only  sheltered  spot  I  could  find  was  at 
the  top  of  the  hill,  so  I  told  Joyce  where  he  would  find 
me  in  the  morning  and  camped  do^\Ti,  first  luckily 
taking  the  precaution  to  put  a  few  cubic  feet  of  kenyte 

30 


PRIESTLEY'S   EXPERIENCE 

on  my  Burberry  trousers  and  jacket  outside  the  bag.  A 
few  hours  later  I  woke  up  to  find  that  the  wind  had  in- 
creased to  the  dimensions  of  a  bhzzard,  and  that  the  drift 
was  sweeping  in  a  steady  cloud  over  my  head.  I  realised 
that  those  in  the  tent  would  have  trouble  in  reaching  me 
in  the  morning,  so  I  got  out  of  the  bag  and  dressed,  get- 
ting both  the  bag  and  my  clothes  full  of  snow  in  the 
process.  Then,  after  some  trouble,  I  got  the  bag  down 
the  steep  slope  of  the  nunatak  to  the  sledge,  where 
I  wrapped  myself  up  in  the  tent-cloth  and  lay 
athwart  the  wind.  In  about  two  hours  I  got  drifted  up 
so  close  that  I  was  forced  to  get  my  shoulders  out  of 
the  bag  and  lever  myself  out  of  the  drift,  and  I  then 
tried  the  experiment  of  tying  head  to  wind  on  the  opening 
of  the  sleeping-bag.  This  answered  very  well,  and  it  was 
in  this  position  that  I  spent  the  next  seventy-two  hours, 
getting  shifted  down  a  yard  or  two  at  a  time  at  every 
change  in  the  direction  of  the  wind,  and  being  gradually 
pushed  along  the  wind-SAvept  surface  of  the  glacier  until 
I  was  some  twenty  or  thirty  yards  from  the  tent,  and  in 
some  danger  of  getting  swept,  as  the  wind  increased  in 
violence,  either  on  to  some  rocks  a  quarter  of  a  mile  below 
or  else  straight  down  the  glacier  and  over  a  hundred-foot 
drop  into  Horseshoe  Bay. 

"  Three  times  the  people  in  the  tent  managed  to 
pass  me  over  some  biscuits  and  raw  pemmican,  and 
Marston  got  my  chocolate  from  the  rucksack  and 
brought  it  to  me.  jNIy  chief  difficulty,  however,  was 
want  of  water.  I  had  had  a  little  tea  before  I  turned 
in,  but  from  that  time  for  nearly  eighty  hours  I  had 
nothing  to  drink  but  some  fragments  of  ice  that  I  could 
prise  up  with  the  point  of  a  small  safetj^-pin.  The 
second  time  Joyce  came  down,  I  believe  abovit  the 
beginning  of  the  third  day,  he  reported  that  the  lashings 
at  the  top  of  the  tent-poles  had  given  way  and  that  a 

31 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

rent  had  been  torn  in  the  material  by  the  corner  of  a 
biscuit-tin.  He  added  that  it  was  impossible  to  keep 
any  snow  on  the  skirt  of  the  tent,  and  that,  as  the  snow- 
cloth  was  kept  down  only  by  a  few  rocks,  the  occupants 
of  the  tent  were  in  constant  expectation  of  seeing  the 
tent  leave  them  altogether,  \^'^hen  Joyce  left  me  on 
this  occasion  the  drift  was  so  thick  that  he  could  see 
nothing,  and  had  to  find  his  way  back  by  shouting 
and  listening  for  the  return  shouts  of  his  tent-mates.  He 
had  gone  only  a  quarter  of  the  distance  when  both  his 
eyes  were  filled  with  drift  and  immediately  choked  with 
ice,  and  when  he  reached  the  tent  his  face  was  a  mask 
of  ice  and  both  feet  were  frost-bitten.  He  was  helped 
inside  and  his  feet  brought  round  with  rubbing,  but  no 
further  attempt  could  be  made  to  reach  me.  He  had 
brought  me  some  biscuit  and  raw  pemmican.  Cooking 
was  not  possible  in  the  tent  OAnng  to  the  impossibility 
of  reaching  the  sledge  to  get  the  oil-filler.  It  may  sound 
like  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  we  could  not  reach  the 
sledge,  which  was  four  yards  or  less  from  the  tent,  but 
it  must  be  remembered  that  we  were  lying  on  the 
slopes  of  a  clean-swept  glacier,  on  which  finnesko  could 
get  no  hold.  The  snow  that  had  covered  the  ice  when 
we  pitched  camp  had  all  disappeared  before  the  fury  of 
the  blizzard.  Our  spiked  ski-boots  were  on  the  ice- 
axes  round  the  sledge,  where  they  had  been  hung  to 
dry,  but  in  any  case  it  would  have  been  impossible 
to  wear  them  in  a  blizzard  when  feet  were  getting  badly 
frost-bitten  even  in  finnesko.  A  slip  on  the  ice  meant 
very  serious  danger  of  destruction. 

"  A  slight  decrease  in  the  wind  at  the  close  of  the 
third  day  gave  me  hope  of  getting  up  to  the  tent,  and 
I  prepared  to  move  by  putting  on  my  outdoor  clothing, 
no  easy  task  in  a  sleeping-bag;  then,  rolling  over  on 
my  side,  I  tried  to  get  out.    I  found  that  there  was 

32 


AN  UNPLEASANT  SITUATION 

less  wind  and  less  drift,  and  that  I  was  able  for  the  fii'st 
time  to  see  where  I  was  with  regard  to  surrounding 
objects.  I  was  unable,  however,  to  get  out  of  the  bag 
without  being  blown  further  do\\Ti  the  slippery  glacier, 
and  I  could  see  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  crawl  up 
the  slopes  with  the  cumbrous  bag.  If  I  lost  the  bag  I 
might  as  well  have  let  myself  slide." 

About  two  hours  after  tliis  IMarston  ventured  forth 
from  the  tent  in  one  of  the  remarkable  intervals  of 
calm  occasionally  experienced  in  the  course  of  an 
Antarctic  blizzard.  On  either  side  of  the  spot  on  which 
the  camp  had  been  pitched  he  could  see  the  drift  flj'ing 
along  with  the  full  force  of  the  wind,  but  he  was  able 
to  make  his  way  down  to  Priestley  before  the  blizzard 
swept  down  on  them  again.  They  dragged  the  bag 
up  the  glacier  by  kneeling  on  it  and  jerking  it  along, 
and  both  got  into  the  tent.  "  Four  men  in  a  three- 
men  tent  is  a  big  squeeze,"  continued  Priestley,  "  but 
five  was  fearful,  and  it  was  some  time  before  I  managed 
to  get  even  sitting  room.  The  first  thing  to  do  was  to 
examine  and  attend  frost-bitten  feet,  and  the  examina- 
tion showed  as  big  a  crop  as  could  be  expected,  for 
Marston  and  I  each  had  both  feet  frost-bitten.  A  course 
of  massage  brought  them  round,  and  I  got  into  INIarston's 
bag  while  he  made  tea.  .  .  .  After  tea  I  got  into  my 
own  bag  and  lay  down  on  top  of  Murray  and  ]\Iarston, 
and  by  dint  of  much  wriggling  we  managed  to  get  fairly 
settled,  though  our  positions  were  so  cramped  that  sleep 
was  impossible. 

"  At  about  half -past  four  in  the  morning  we  cooked 
some  pemmican  in  the  tent  and  had  a  proper  breakfast, 
as  for  the  first  time  the  wind  had  really  begun  to  die 
away.  Owing  to  the  cold,  the  long  period  of  semi- 
starvation  in  our  cramped  quarters,  and  the  fact  that 

Vol.  u.—a  33 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

oil  had  got  mixed  uj)  with  the  food,  we  were  unable  to 
do  justice  either  to  the  hoosh  or  to  the  cocoa  which 
followed  it,  and  were  still  fairly  empty  when  the  drift 
ceased  and  we  turned  out  to  face  the  blizzard,  pack 
the  sledge  and  start  for  home.  The  ascent  of  the 
mountain  had,  of  course,  to  be  abandoned.  I  put  on 
my  damp  finnesko  and  went  out  to  help,  but  in  less  than 
five  minutes,  though  the  temperature  was  plus  22° 
Fahr.,  I  was  back  in  the  tent  with  the  front  portions 
of  both  feet  frozen,  and  we  took  half  an  hour  to  bring 
them  round  by  beating,  massaging  and  rubbing  with 
snow.  This  latter  remedy,  Marston's  favourite,  is  a 
very  drastic  one,  and  as  painful  as  any  I  know,  for  the 
Antarctic  snow  is  invariably  in  small  sharp  crystals, 
very  brittle  and  hard.  We  all  chafed  very  much  at 
the  unavoidable  delay,  as  there  was  every  sign  of  a 
renewal  of  the  blizzard  and  the  drift,  but  fortunately  we 
got  under  way  before  anj^  drift  rose,  and  the  wind  was 
rather  in  our  favour.  We  left  all  the  provisions 
there,  and  unanimously  named  the  nunatak  '  Misery 
Nunatak,'  and  we  were  about  as  glad  to  leave  the  place 
as  a  soul  would  be  to  leave  purgatory.  We  also  left  a 
tin  of  biscuits  and  some  oil  with  a  view  to  a  future  attempt 
at  an  ascent,  to  be  made  by  Murray,  Day,  Marston  and 
Joyce. 

"  There  w^as  a  remarkable  contrast  between  the 
wind-swept  surface  of  the  glacier  and  the  surface  over 
which  we  had  toilsomely  dragged  the  sledges  during 
our  day's  journey  outward.  Instead  of  a  uniform 
carpet,  six  inches  deep,  of  soft  snow,  varied  with  drifts 
up  to  one's  knees,  we  found  patches  of  glacier  ice, 
larger  stretches  of  neve,  and  hard  drifts  of  snow,  on 
wliich  neither  our  weight  nor  the  weight  of  the  sledge 
made  the  slightest  impression;    these  drifts  were  deeply 

34 


I 


l'»-. 


!.r-;rj:r^ 


The  -MoToit  nkah  thi:  V^'intek  Qr.vitTtiis 


A   Hail  of  Fish 


EREBUS   IN  ERUPTION 

undercut  on  the  south-east  side,  and  were  frequently  a 
foot  to  eighteen  inches  in  height.  It  was  no  easy  matter 
to  direct  the  sledge  across  the  strong  wind  then  blowing, 
although  we  had  two  men  jjulling  and  two  others  guiding 
the  sledge,  and  we  ascended  about  half  a  mile  to  the  north 
of  Horseshoe  Bay  in  what  was,  for  a  long  time, 
totally  unfamiliar  country,  and  through  a  series  of 
moraines  which  had  not  yet  been  explored.  I  was,  un- 
fortunately, of  no  use  in  the  pulling,  being  only 
just  able  to  get  along  myself,  and  we  were  all  ex- 
tremely glad  to  get  the  sledge  to  the  Back  Door  Bay 
end  of  Blue  Lake,  where  it  was  left  till  the  next  day.  We 
reached  the  hut  and  started  on  a  course  of  feeding  and 
recuperating,  having  been  five  days  out." 

JNIount  Erebus  was  noticed  to  be  in  eruption  when 
the  party  was  maching  back  to  the  hut  on  November  27. 
Huge  diverging  columns  of  steam  were  rising  from  the 
crater,  and  beliind  could  be  seen  curious  clouds  of  feathery 
cirrus.  The  temperature  during  the  blizzard  had  not 
fallen  below  12°  Fahr.,  and  been  above  20°  Fahr.  during 
most  of  the  time,  so  that  the  frost-bites  sustained  by  the 
men  must  have  been  due  mainly  to  lowered  vitality, 
caused  by  the  cramped  situation  and  the  lack  of  hot 
food. 

The  experience  had  been  rather  a  severe  one,  but  the 
men  were  none  the  worse  for  it  after  a  day  or  two  at 
the  winter  quarters,  and  they  commenced  at  once  to  make 
preparations  for  the  western  journey.  I  had  left 
instructions  that  on  December  1  Armytage,  Priestley  and 
Brocklehurst  should  start  for  Butter  Point  ^^^th  600 
lb.  of  stores  in  order  to  lay  a  depot  for  the  Northern 
Party  which  might  be  expected  to  reach  that  point 
on  its  journey  back  from  the  Magnetic  Pole.  Then 
the  three  men  were  to  secure  what  stores  they  required 

35 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

for  their  own  purposes,  and  proceed  up  the  Ferrar 
Glacier  as  far  as  tlie  Depot  Nunatak  in  order  that 
Priestley  might  search  for  fossils  in  the  sandstones  of 
the  western  mountains.  They  were  to  get  back  to 
Butter  Point  early  in  January  in  order  to  meet  Pro- 
fessor David,  INIawson  and  INIackay,  and  if  a  junction 
was  effected,  JNIaw^son,  Priestley  and  Brocklehurst  wei-e 
to  carry  on  geological  work  in  Dry  Valley  and  the 
surrounding  country,  while  Professor  David,  AiTnytage 
and  Mackay  were  to  return  to  the  winter  quarters. 
The  fact  that  the  Northern  Party  did  not  arrive  upset 
this  arrangement  to  some  extent,  but  the  other  three  men 
did  some  very  useful  work.  The  mountains  to  the  west 
of  MclNIurdo  Sound  had  been  explored  by  Lieutenant 
ALrmytage  and  Captain  Scott  during  the  Discovery 
expedition,  Armitage  having  climbed  the  mountains 
and  penetrated  west  to  an  altitude  of  9000  ft.  on 
the  ice-cap,  while  Scott  had  reached  longitude  146°  33' 
East,  on  the  western  plateaux.  Further  information  was 
required,  however,  in  regard  to  the  geology  of  the 
mountains. 

Armytage,  Priestley  and  Brocklehurst  accordingly 
left  the  winter  quarters  on  December  1,  taking  with 
them  about  1200  lb.  of  gear  and  stores.  The  motor-car 
carried  them  fbr  the  first  sixteen  miles,  although  the 
sea  ice  was  by  this  time  in  a  very  bad  condition.  The 
season  was  well  advanced,  the  sun  was  above  the  horizon 
all  the  time,  and  there  were  cracks  and  pools  in  all 
directions.  Day  and  IVIarston  took  the  car  out,  and 
when  they  were  coming  back  after  leaving  the  Western 
Party  the  car  got  stuck  firmly  in  a  crack  that  ran  across 
the  course.  They  spent  two  hours  cutting  away  the 
ice  sufficiently  to  get  the  car  out,  and  then  had  to 
make   a  detour   of   five  miles   in   order  to   get   round 

36 


JOURNEY  TO  BUTTER  POINT 

the  crack.  This  was  the  last  journey  of  the  car  in  the 
Antarctic,  for  it  was  laid  up  when  it  got  back  to  the  hut. 

The  Western  Party,  after  some  heavy  sledging, 
camped  on  December  4  at  the  foot  of  the  Ferrar  Glacier. 
Armytagewas,  at  this  time,  suffering  from  an  attack  of 
snow-blindness.  Priestley  found  moss  and  a  species  of 
fungus  at  the  stranded  moraines  and  also  some  kenyte. 
The  men  had  been  looking  forward  with  pleasurable 
anticipation  to  securing  skuas'  eggs,  wloich  would  have 
been  a  welcome  change  from  pemmican  and  biscuit,  but 
the  birds  had  apj^arently  not  begun  to  lay  and  no 
eggs  were  secured.  "  A  good  deal  of  water  denudation 
and  transportation  is  takmg  place  along  the  sea-cliffs  of 
these  moraines,"  wrote  Priestley  m  his  diary.  "  Quite 
a  thick  alluvial  deposit,  bearing  a  strong  resemblance  to 
a  series  of  miniature  deltas,  is  to.  be  seen  along  the  ice- 
foot awaiting  the  breaking  up  of  the  ice  and  its 
removal  to  the  sea.  The  dust  from  the  moraines  had 
made  a  remarkable  surface  for  two  miles  tliis  side  of 
them.  Some  winds  had  evidently  been  strong  enough  to 
remove  a  considerable  quantity  of  the  gravel  with  the 
snow,  and  the  drifts  which  had  contained  this  gravel  had 
melted  away,  undercutting  the  edges  of  the  cleaner  snow- 
drifts, and  thus  giving  a  surface  of  bare  ice  with  patchy 
snowdrifts  undercut  on  all  sides." 

The  party  reached  Butter  Point,  about  tliirty-five 
miles  as  the  crow  flies  from  the  winter  quarters,  on 
December  5,  and  found  a  small  depot  left  there  by  the 
Northern  Party  on  its  way  to  the  Magnetic  Pole.  Pro- 
fessor David  and  liis  companions  had  placed  some  final 
letters  in  a  milk-tin.  The  stores  brought  for  the  pur- 
pose were  placed  at  the  depot,  and  then  Armytage, 
Priestley  and  Brocklehurst  proceeded  back  to  the 
winter  quarters,  arri^dng  there  on  December  7  at  11.30 
P.M.     On  December  9   they   started   for  Butter   Point 

37 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

again,  taking  five  weeks'  provisions  for  three  men,  in 
order  to  proceed  up  the  Ferrar  Glacier,  and  later  to  try 
to  effect  a  junction  with  the  Northern  Party. 

Only  five  men — JNlurray,  Joyce,  Day,  ^larston  and 
Roberts — were  now  at  the  winter  quarters.  The  heat 
of  the  Antarctic  summer  being  at  its  height,  the  snow- 
drifts were  melting  rapidly,  and  the  trickhng  of  running 
water  was  everywhere  to  be  heard.  A  large  drift 
remained  on  the  hill  behind  the  hut,  leading  up  to 
Mawson's  anemometer.  On  December  1  it  was  melting 
in  several  little  trickles,  and  next  day  it  was  found  that 
one  of  these  had  got  under  the  hut  and  made  a  pool  about 
a  foot  in  depth  at  the  lower  end.  JNIany  valuable  things 
were  stored  under  the  hut,  and  the  only  opening  was 
occupied  by  the  pool  of  water.  A  hole  had  to  be 
made  at  one  side  of  the  house,  where  the  ground  was 
higher,  and  into  this  Joyce  crawled  and  spent  some 
hours  wriggling  about  in  a  space  hardly  more  than  one 
foot  in  height,  rescuing  valuable  boxes  of  printing 
material  and  printed  matter. 

In  the  succeeding  days  the  men  at  the  hut  had  an 
illustration  of  the  contrasts  wliich  the  Antarctic  climate 
presents.  The  heat  of  the  sun  melted  the  snow,  and 
indeed  made  the  weather  oppressively  warm,  yet  the 
water  which  ran  below  the  house  where  the  sunsliine 
could  not  penetrate  and  the  air  temperature  never  rose 
above  32°  Fahr.,  froze  at  night  and  never  thawed  again, 
so  that  the  water  each  day  added  a  layer  to  the  accu- 
mulation beneath  the  hut,  till  it  reached  nearly  up  to  the 
floor. 

After  the  final  departure  of  the  Western  Party  on 
December  9,  life  at  the  winter  quarters  was  uneventful 
until  the  arrival  of  the  Nimrod.  The  members  of  the 
expedition  remaining  at  Cape  Royds  were  busy  collecting 

38 


SUMMER  AT  THE  HUT 

skua  eggs,  preparing  skins,  carrying  on  the  routine 
scientific  observations,  and  watching  the  doings  of  the 
Adelie  penguins.  JMany  photographs  were  taken,  es- 
pecially by  Day,  of  penguins  in  eveiy  variety  of  attitude, 
and  of  other  subjects  of  interest.  Experiments  were 
made  in  photographing  microscopic  animals,  and  many 
pictures  of  them  from  hfe  were  obtained. 


RETURN  OF  THE  MMROD 

AFTER  leaving  us  on  February  22,  the  Nimrod  had  an 
■^*-  uneventful  voyage  back  to  New  Zealand.  Fair 
winds  were  encountered  all  the  way,  and  the  ice  gave 
no  difficulty,  the  coast  of  New  Zealand  being  sighted 
twelve  days  after  the  departure  from  Cape  Royds. 
During  the  winter  the  Nimrod  had  been  laid  up  in  Port 
Lyttelton  waiting  till  the  time  arrived  to  bring  us  back 
to  civilisation.  The  little  ship  had  been  docked  and 
thoroughly  overhauled,  so  that  all  effects  of  the  severe 
treatment  she  received  during  the  first  voyage  down 
to  the  ice  had  been  removed,  and  she  was  once  more 
ready  to  battle  with  the  floes.  Towards  the  end  of  the 
year  stores  were  taken  on  board,  for  there  was  a  possi- 
bility that  a  party  might  have  to  spend  a  second  winter 
at  Cape  Royds,  if  the  men  comprising  one  of  the  sledging 
expeditions  had  not  returned,  and,  of  course,  there 
was  always  the  possibility  of  the  Nimrod  herself  being 
caught  in  the  ice  and  frozen  in  for  the  winter.  Sufficient 
stores  were  taken  on  board  to  provide  for  any  such 
eventualities,  and  as  much  coal  as  could  be  stowed 
away  was  also  carried.  Captain  P.  F.  Evans,  who 
had  commanded  the  Kooni/a  at  the  time  she  towed 
the  Nimrod  down  to  the  Antarctic  Circle,  was  ap- 
pointed master  of  the  Nimrod  under  my  power  of 
attorney.  Captain  England  having  resigned  on  account 
of  ill-health  after  reaching  New  Zealand  earher  in  the 
year. 

The  Nimrod  left  Lyttelton  on  December  1,   1908, 

40 


NIMROD   GOES  SOUTH  AGAIN 

and  encountered  fine  weather  for  the  voyage  south- 
wards. On  the  evening  of  the  3rd,  the  wind  being 
favourable,  the  propeller  was  disconnected,  and  the 
vessel  proceeded  under  sail  alone  until  the  20th,  when 
she  was  in  latitude  66°  30'  South,  longitude  178°  28' 
West.  The  "  blink  "  of  ice  was  seen  ahead  and  the  ship 
was  hove  to  until  steam  had  been  raised  and  the  propeller 
connected.  Then  Captain  Evans  set  sail  again,  and 
proceeded  towards  the  pack.  The  vessel  was  soon  in 
brash  ice,  and  after  pushing  through  tliis  for  a  couple 
of  hours  reached  the  pack,  and  made  her  way  slowly 
through  the  lanes.  Numerous  seals  were  basking  on 
the  floes,  regarding  the  shijj  with  their  usual  air  of 
mild  astonisliment.  On  the  following  day  the  pack 
was  more  congested,  and  the  progress  southward  was 
slow,  so  much  so  that  the  crew  found  time  to  kill  and 
skin  several  crabeater  seals.  Open  water  was  reached 
again  that  evening,  and  at  noon  on  the  22nd  the  Nimrod 
was  in  latitude  68°  20'  South,  longitude  175°  23'  East, 
and  proceeding  under  sail  through  the  open  water  of 
Ross  Sea.  The  belt  of  pack-ice  had  been  about  sixty 
miles  wide. 

On  December  26  the  Nimrod  reached  latitude  70° 
42'  South,  longitude  173°  4'  West,  the  position,  in  which, 
in  1843,  Sir  James  Ross  sighted  "  compact,  hummocky 
ice,"  but  found  only  drift  ice,  with  plenty  of  open 
water.  A  sounding  gave  no  bottom  Mith  1575  fathoms 
of  wire,  so  that  the  theory  that  the  ice  seen  by  Ross  was 
resting  on  land  was  completely  disproved.  At  noon  on 
the  27th  the  Nimrod,  which  was  proceeding  in  a  south- 
east direction,  was  brought  up  by  thick  floes  in  latitude 
72°  8'  South,  longitude  173°  1'  West.  Progress  be- 
came possible  again  later  in  the  day,  and  at  four 
o'clock  on  the  following  morning  the  Nimrod  was  in 
open  water,   with  the  blink   of   pack   to  the  eastward. 

41 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Captain  Evans  had  kept  east  with  the  hope  of  sighting 
King  Edward  VII  Land,  but  the  pack  seemed  to  be 
continuous  in  that  direction,  and  on  the  30tli  he  there- 
fore shaped  a  course  for  Cape  Bird,  and  on  January  1, 
1909,  JNIount  Erebus  was  sighted.  The  experience 
of  Captain  Evans  on  this  voyage  confirms  my  own 
impression  that,  under  normal  conditions,  the  pack 
that  stretches  out  from  the  Barrier  to  the  eastward 
of  the  Ross  Sea  is  not  penetrable,  and  that  the  Discovery 
was  able  to  push  to  within  sight  of  King  Edward  VII 
Land  in  1902  for  the  reason  that  the  ice  was  unusually 
open  that  season. 

The  progress  of  the  Nimrod  towards  the  wnter 
quarters  was  blocked  by  ice  off  Beaufort  Island,  and 
after  manoeuvring  about  for  three  hours  Captain  Evans 
made  the  vessel  fast  to  a  floe  with  ice  anchors.  The 
next  morning  he  cast  off  from  the  floe,  and  with  the 
help  of  the  current,  which  seems  to  set  constantly  to 
the  west  between  Cape  Bird  and  Beaufort  Island,  and 
by  taking  advantage  of  lanes  of  open  water,  gradually 
proceeded  in  two  days  to  a  point  only  twenty-eight 
miles  from  Cape  Royds.  Some  heavy  bumps  against 
the  floes  tested  the  strength  of  the  vessel,  and  finally 
what  appeared  to  be  fast  ice  was  encounterd,  so  that 
no  further  progress  towards  the  south  was  possible  for 
the  time. 

There  seemed  to  be  no  immediate  possibility  of  the 
Nimrod  reaching  Cape  Royds,  and  Captain  Evans 
therefore  decided  to  send  INIackintosh  wth  three  men 
to  convey  a  mail-bag  and  the  news  of  the  ship's  arrival 
to  the  winter  quarters.  The  party  M^as  to  travel  over 
the  sea  ice  with  a  sledge,  and  it  did  not  seem  that  there 
would  be  any  great  difficulties  to  be  encountered.  A 
start  was  made  at  10.15  a.m.  on  January''  3,  the  party 
consisting  of  Mackintosh,  ISIcGillan,  Riches  and  Paton, 

42 


ON   DRIFT  ICE 

with  one  sledge,  a  tent,  sleejjing-bags,  cooking  equip- 
ment and  a  supply  of  provisions.  The  distance  to  be 
covered  was  about  twenty-five  niiles.  In  the  afternoon 
Mackintosh  sent  Riches  and  Paton  back  to  the  shif),  and 
he  reduced  the  load  on  the  sledge  by  leaving  fifty  pounds 
of  iDrovisions  in  a  depot.  The  travelling  became  very 
rough,  the  two  men  encomitering  both  bad  ice  and 
soft  snow.  They  camped  at  7.50  p.m.,  and  started  for 
Cape  Royds  again  at  1.55  a.m.  on  the  following  day. 
They  soon  got  on  to  a  better  surface,  and  made  good 
progress  until  5.30  a.m.,  when  thej^  met  with  open  water, 
with  pressure  ice  floating  past.  This  blocked  the  way. 
They  walked  for  two  hours  in  a  westerly  direction  to 
see  how  far  the  open  water  extended,  but  did  not  reach 
the  end  of  it.  The  whole  of  the  ice  to  the  southward 
seemed  to  be  moving,  and  the  stream  at  the  spot  at  which 
they  were  then  standing  was  travelling  at  the  rate  of 
about  three  miles  an  hour.  They  breakfasted  at 
7.30  A.M.,  and  then  started  back  for  the  ship,  as  there 
seemed  to  be  no  chance  of  reaching  Cape  Royds  in  con- 
sequence of  the  open  water. 

Presently  ^Mackintosh  found  that  there  was  open 
water  ahead,  blocking  the  way  to  the  sliip,  and  a  survey 
of  the  position  from  a  hummock  revealed  the  unpleasant 
fact  that  the  floe-ice  was  breaking  up  altogether,  and 
that  they  were  in  most  serious  danger  of  drifting  out 
into  the  sound.  Safety  lay  in  a  hurried  dash  for  the 
shore  to  the  east,  and  they  proceeded  to  drag  their 
sledge  across  rough  ice  and  deep  snow  with  all  possible 
speed.  At  places  they  had  to  lift  the  sledge  bodily 
over  the  ice-faces,  and  when,  after  an  hour's  very  hea\'y 
work,  they  arrived  off  the  first  point  of  land,  they  found 
an  open  lane  of  water  barring  their  way.  "  We  dragged 
on  to  the  next  point,  which  appeared  to  be  safe,"  ^\Tote 
]Mackintosh  in  liis  diary.     "  The  floes  were  small  and 

43 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

square  in  shape.  Every  two  hundred  yards  we  had 
to  drag  our  sledge  to  the  edge  of  a  floe,  jump  over  a 
lane  of  water,  and  then  with  a  big  eff'ort  jjull  the  sledge 
after  us.  After  an  hour  of  this  kind  of  work  our  hands 
were  cut  and  bleeding,  and  our  clothes,  which,  of  course, 
froze  as  stiff  as  boards,  had  been  wet  through  to  the 
waist,  for  we  had  frequently  slipped  and  fallen  when 
crossing  from  floe  to  floe.  At  2.30  p.ji.  we  were  near 
to  the  land,  and  came  to  a  piece  of  glacier  ice  that  formed 
a  bridge.  The  floe  that  we  were  on  was  moving  rapidly, 
so  we  had  to  make  a  great  efi^ort  and  drag  our  sledge 
over  a  six-foot  breach.  Our  luck  was  in,  and  we  pulled 
our  sledge  a  little  way  up  the  face  of  the  fast  ice,  and 
unpacked  it.  We  were  in  a  safe  position  again,  and  none 
too  soon,  for  fifteen  minutes  later  there  was  open  water 
where  we  had  gained  the  land." 

]Mackintosh  decided  to  go  into  camp  near  the  spot 
where  they  had  landed,  as  a  journej^  across  the  rocks  and 
the  glaciers  of  the  coast  was  not  a  thing  to  be  undertaken 
lightly,  and  would  probably  be  impossible  unless  the  mail- 
bag  was  left  behind.  ^NIcGillan,  moreover,  had  developed 
snow-blindness,  and  both  men  were  very  tired.  I  will 
quote  from  Mackintosh's  report  on  the  subsequent  ex- 
perience of  this  little  party. 

"  Early  the  next  morning  I  found  iSIcGillan  in  great 
pain,"  wrote  JNIackintosh.  "  His  eyes  were  closed  up 
completely,  and  his  face  was  terribly  swollen.  The 
only  remed}^  I  could  apply  w^as  to  bathe  them,  and  this 
seemed  to  give  him  some  relief.  From  an  elevated 
position  I  had  a  good  look  round  for  the  ship,  and 
could  not  see  a  trace  of  her.  As  the  day  wore  on  my  own 
eyes  became  painful.  I  fervently  hoped  I  was  not  going 
to  be  as  bad  as  my  companion,  for  we  would  then  be 
in  a  very  difficult  position.  The  morning  of  January  6 
found  us  both  blind.     ^McGillan's  face  was  frightfully 

44 


SNOW-BLINDNESS 

swollen,  and  liis  eyes  completely  and  tightly  shut,  so 
that  he  did  not  know  that  I  was  attacked  too.  At  first 
I  refrained  from  telhng  him,  but  the  pain  was  very  severe, 
and  I  had  to  tell  him.  By  the  j)ainful  process  of  forcing 
my  eyehds  apart  with  my  lingers  I  could  see  a  little,  but 
I  was  not  able  to  do  this  for  long.  I  continued  to  bathe 
McGillan's  eyes,  and  then  suffered  six  hours'  agonj^ 
endmg  in  a  good  long  sleep,  from  wliich  I  awoke  re- 
freshed and  much  better.  I  was  able  to  see  without  effort. 
McGillan  was  also  much  better,  and  our  relief,  after  the 
anxiety  we  had  felt,  was  very  great.  By  midnight  we 
had  improved  so  much  that  we  walked  to  the  penguin 
rookery,  where  we  had  great  fun  with  the  birds  and  found 
several  eggs." 

The  men  stayed  in  camp  for  several  days,  seeing 
no  sign  of  the  ship,  and  after  their  eyes  were  better 
spent  a  good  deal  of  time  studying  the  neighbourhood 
and  especially  the  bird-life.  They  cut  down  theu-  food 
to  two  meals  a  day,  as  their  supply  of  food  was  not 
large.  Finally,  ISIackintosh  decided  that  he  would 
leave  the  mail-bag  in  the  tent,  it  being  too  heavy  to 
carry  for  any  distance,  and  march  into  Cape  Roj'ds. 
They  made  a  start  on  the  morning  of  January  11,  carry- 
ing forty  pounds  each,  including  food  for  three  meals, 
and  expected  to  be  able  to  reach  the  winter  quarters 
within  twenty-four  hours.  The  first  portion  of  the  journey 
lay  over  liills  of  basaltic  rock,  at  the  base  of  ]Mount 
Bird,  and  they  thought  it  best  to  get  as  high  as  possible 
in  order  to  avoid  the  valleys  and  glaciers.  They  went 
up  about  five  thousand  feet,  and  had  fairly  easy  travel- 
ling over  slopes  until  they  got  well  on  to  the  glaciers. 
Then  their  troubles  commenced.  They  were  wearing 
ski-boots  without  spikes,  and  had  many  hea%y  falls  on 
the  slippery  ice.  "  We  w-ere  walldng  along,  each  picking 
his    own    tracks,    and    were    about    fifty    yards    apart, 

45 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

foolishly  not  roped,  when  I  happened  to  look  round 
to  speak  to  my  companion,  and  found  that  he  had 
disappeared,"  wrote  ^lackintosh.  "  Suddenly  I  heard 
my  name  called  faintly  from  the  bowels  of  the  glacier, 
and  immediately  rushed  towards  the  place  from  which 
the  sound  proceeded.  I  found  McGillan  in  a  yawning 
chasm,  many  feet  beneath  me,  and  held  up  on  a 
projection  of  ice.  I  took  oft'  my  straps  from  my  pack 
and  to  them  tied  my  waist  lashing,  and  lowered  this 
extemporised  rope  down  to  him.  It  just  reached  his 
hand,  and  with  much  pulling  on  my  part  and  knee- 
chmbing  on  liis,  he  got  safely  to  the  surface  of  the 
glacier  again.  The  Primus  stove  and  our  supply  of 
food  had  gone  further  down  the  crevasse.  We  tried 
to  hook  them  up,  and  in  doing  so  I  lost  my  straps  and 
line  which  I  had  attached  to  a  ski-stick,  so  we  were 
left  almost  without  equipment.  As  soon  as  INIcGillan 
had  recovered  from  the  shock  he  had  received  we 
started  off"  again,  ^nth  the  spare  strap  tying  the  two 
of  us  together.  We  crossed  over  many  snow-bridges 
that  covered  the  dangers  undei-neath,  but  soon  we  were 
in  a  perfect  hot-bed  of  crevasses.  They  were  impassable 
and  lay  right  across  our  path,  so  that  we  could  look 
down  into  awful  depths.  We  turned  and  climbed 
liigher  in  order  to  get  a  clear  passage  round  the  top.  We 
were  roped  together  and  I  was  in  the  lead,  with  McGillan 
behind,  so  that  when  I  fell,  as  I  often  did,  up  to  my 
waist  in  a  crevasse,  he  could  pull  me  out  again.  We 
found  a  better  surface  higher  up,  but  when  we  began 
to  descend  we  again  got  into  crevassed  regions.  At 
first  the  crevasses  were  ice-covered  gaps,  but  later  we 
came  to  huge  open  ones,  whose  yawning  depths  made 
us  shudder.  It  was  not  possible  to  cross  them.  We 
started  to  ascend  again,  and  soon  came  to  a  bridge  of 

46 


A  DANGEROUS  SITUATION 

ice  across  a  huge  crevasse  about  twenty  feet  ^vide.  We 
lashed  up  tighter,  and  I  went  off  in  the  lead,  straddle- 
legged  across  the  narrow  bridge.  We  both  reached  the 
other  side  in  safety,  but  one  slip,  or  the  breaking  of  the 
bridge  would  have  precij)itated  us  into  those  black  depths 
below." 

The  two  men  found  their  way  blocked  by  crevasses 
in  whichever  direction  they  turned,  and  at  last  reached 
a  point  from  which  ascent  was  out  of  the  question, 
while  below  lay  a  steej)  sloj^e  running  down  for  about 
tlu-ee  thousand  feet.  They  could  not  tell  what  lay  at 
the  bottom  of  the  slope,  but  their  case  was  desperate, 
and  they  decided  to  glissade  down.  Theu"  knives, 
which  they  attempted  to  use  as  brakes,  were  torn  from 
their  grasp,  but  they  managed  to  keep  their  heels  in 
the  snow,  and  although  they  passed  crevasses,  none 
lay  directly  in  their  path.  They  reached  the  bottom  in 
safety  at  4  p.m.  on  the  11th.  They  were  very  hungry 
and  had  practically  no  food,  but  they  could  get  forward 
now,  and  at  6  p.m.  they  could  see  Cape  Royds  and  were 
travelling  over  a  smooth  surface.  They  ate  a  few 
biscuit  crumbs  and  half  a  tin  of  condensed  milk,  the  only 
other  food  they  had  being  a  little  chocolate.  Soon 
snow  commenced  to  fall,  and  the  weather  became  thick, 
obscuring  their  view  of  the  Cape.  They  could  not  see 
two  yards  ahead,  and  for  two  hours  they  stumbled 
along  in  bhnding  snow.  They  rested  for  a  few  minutes, 
but  their  clothes  were  covered  with  ice,  icicles  hung 
from  their  faces,  and  the  temperature  was  very  low. 
In  a  temporary  clearing  of  the  blizzard  Mackintosh 
thought  that  he  could  make  out  the  Cape  and  they 
dashed  off,  but  at  lunch-time  on  the  12th  they  were 
still  wandering  over  the  rocks  and  snow,  hea\y  snow 
cutting  off  all  view  of  the  surrounding  countrj-.     Soon 

47 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

after  this  the  snow  ceased  to  fall,  thougli  the  drift-snow, 
borne  along  by  the  blizzard  wind,  still  made  the  weather 
tliick.  Several  times  they  thought  that  they  saw  Cape 
Royds,  but  found  that  they  had  been  mistaken.  As 
a  matter  of  fact  they  were  quite  close  to  the  winter 
quarters  when,  at  about  7  p.m.,  they  were  found  by 
Day.  They  were  m  a  state  of  complete  exhaus- 
tion, and  were  just  managing  to  stagger  along  because 
they  knew  that  to  stop  meant  death.  Within  a  few 
minutes  thej'  were  in  the  hut,  where  Avarm  food, 
dry  clothes  and  a  good  rest  soon  restored  them.  They 
had  a  narrow  escape  from  death,  and  would  prob- 
ably have  never  reached  the  hut  had  not  Day 
happened  to  be  outside  watching  for  the  return  of 
the  ship. 

INIackintosh  and  ]\IcGillan  reached  the  hut  on  January 
12,  but  in  the  meantime  the  Nimrod  had  arrived  at 
Cape  Royds  and  had  gone  north  again  in  search  of  the 
misshig  men.  INIurray  had  sailed  in  the  Nimrod,  and 
as  events  turned  out,  he  was  not  able  to  get  back  to  the 
hut  for  about  ten  days.  "  We  were  having  tea  on  the 
afternoon  of  January  5,  and  JMarston  happening  to  open 
the  door,  there  was  the  Nimrod  already  moored  to  the 
edge  of  the  fast  ice,  not  more  than  a  mile  away,"  wrote 
Murray  in  a  report  on  the  summer  w^ork.  "  We  ran 
towards  the  sliip,  over  the  rotten  sea  ice,  in  boots  or 
slippers  as  chanced,  witli  the  one  idea  that  is  ujipermost 
in  these  circumstances — to  get  '  letters  from  home.' 
We  were  doomed  to  disappointment.  Before  we  had 
finished  greeting  our  old  friends,  the  officers  asked  us, 
'  Has  JNIackintosh  arrived  ? '  and  we  learned  to  our 
horror  that  he  and  a  companion  had  left  the  ship  two 
days  before  and  tliirty  miles  north  of  Cape  Royds,  to 
trj'^  to  bring  the  letters  sooner  to  us  over  the  sea  ice, 
over  the  bay  where  only  a  few  days  ago  we  saw  a  broad 

48 


i^BS, 


NIMROD   IN  THE   ICE 

sheet  of  open  water  to  the  horizon,  and  which  was  even 
now  only  filled  with  loose  pack!  So  we  got  no  home 
letters,  and  had  good  reason  to  believe  that  our  friends 
had  lost  their  hves  in  the  endeavour  to  bring  them.  We 
knew  that  they  must  have  embarked  on  a  large  floe, 
and  httle  expected  to  see  them  again.  On  Januar}'  7 
the  Niinrod  left  Cape  Royds  to  seek  for  the  lost  men, 
on  the  chance  that  they  might  have  got  ashore  near 
Cape  Bird.  Within  a  few  hours  she  was  caught  by  the 
pack  which  was  diifting  rapidly  southward  along  the 
shore  of  Ross  Island.  Driven  almost  on  shore  near 
Horseshoe  Bay,  the  ship,  by  dint  of  hard  steaming, 
got  a  little  way  ofi^  the  land,  and  was  there  beset  by  the 
ice  and  so  remained  from  the  7th  to  the  15th,  with 
only  a  few  hours'  ineffectual  steaming  during  the  fu'st 
daj'  or  two.  At  length  she  was  rigidly  jammed  and 
was  carried  helplessly  by  a  great  eddj"  of  the  pack  away 
towards  the  western  side  of  the  sound,  and  gradually 
northward. 

"  On  January  12  she  was  as  tight  as  though  frozen 
in  for  the  winter.  In  the  afternoon  sudden  pressure 
aflPected  all  the  ice  from  the  Nimrod  as  far  as  we  could 
see.  Great  blocks  of  ice,  six  or  eight  feet  in  thickness, 
were  tossed  and  piled  on  the  surface  of  the  floes.  These 
pressure  heaps  were  formed  on  each  side  of  the  sliip's 
bow,  but  she  took  no  harm,  and  in  about  an  hour  the 
pressure  ceased.  On  the  morning  of  January  15  there 
was  not  the  slightest  sign  of  slacking  of  the  pack,  but  in 
the  early  afternoon  Harbord,  from  the  crow's-nest, 
saw  lanes  of  water  at  no  great  distance  to  the  east. 
Steam  was  got  up  and  in  a  few  hours  we  had  left  our 
prison  and  got  into  a  broad  lane,  ^vith  only  thin  ice 
which  the  ship  could  charge,  and  the  open  water  was 
in  sight.     Shortly  after  midnight  we  got  clear  of  the 

Vol.  n.^  49 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

ice.  AVhen  released  we  were  not  very  far  from  the 
Nordenskjold  Ice-Barrier. 

"  The  deceptive  appearance  of  loose  pack  was  im- 
pressed upon  us.  For  many  hours  there  was  blue 
water  apparently  only  a  mile  or  two  ahead,  but  it  never 
appeared  to  get  anj'  nearer  for  hours,  and  we  could 
not  be  sure  it  was  really  near  till  we  were  within  a  few 
hundred  yards  of  the  edge.  All  this  tune  in  the  pack 
we  were  in  doubt  as  to  the  fate  of  ^lackintosh,  or  rather, 
we  had  not  much  doubt  about  it,  for  we  had  given  him 
up  for  lost,  but  we  were  helpless  to  do  anytliing.  On 
the  afternoon  of  the  16th,  on  which  day  we  cleared  the 
ice,  we  had  passed  Reauford  Island  and  were  approaching 
through  verj'  loose  pack  the  only  piece  of  shore 
on  which  there  was  any  chance  of  finding  the  lost  men. 
Near  the  end  of  this  stretch  of  beach,  where  it  is  suc- 
ceeded by  hopeless  chffs,  a  small  patch  of  greenish 
colour  was  seen,  and  the  telescope  showed  the  details  of 
a  deserted  camji,  a  tent  torn  to  ribbons  and  all  the  camp 
gear  lying  around.  A  boat  was  sent  ashore  in  charge 
of  Davis,  who  found  the  bag  of  letters,  and  a  note  from 
^Mackintosh  pinned  to  the  tent,  telling  of  his  risky  attempt 
to  cross  the  mountains  nearly  a  week  before.  Knowing 
the  frightfully  crevassed  character  of  the  valley  between 
^Mount  Bird  and  INIount  Erebus,  there  seemed  to  us  little 
hope  that  they  would  get  through.  The  crevassed 
slope  extends  right  to  the  top  of  ]\Iount  Bird,  and  is 
very  steep  towards  the  Erebus  side.  When  we  reached 
Cape  Royds  about  midnight,  only  two  men  came  out  to 
meet  the  ship.  One  of  the  men  was  Mackintosh's  com- 
rade in  all  his  adventures,  and  we  soon  learned  that  all  had 
ended  well." 

In  the  meantime  the  Bluff  Depot  party  had  started 
off  to  place  a  supply  of  provisions  off  Minna  Bluff  in 
readiness  for  the  return  of  the  Southern  Party.     The 

50 


ANXIOUS  DAYS 

crew  of  the  Nimrod  proceeded  to  take  on  board  the 
geological  and  zoological  specimens  collected  by  the 
exjjedition  and  stored  at  the  hut,  so  that  all  might  be 
in  readiness  for  the  final  departure  when  the  parties  had 
been  picked  up.  Then  followed  weeks  of  uncertainty  as 
to  the  fate  of  the  men  who  were  away. 


Cl^apter  ^our 

THE  BLUFF  DEPOT  JOURNEY 

T  HAD  left  instructions  at  the  winter  quarters  that 
■'■  a  party  should  proceed  to  Minna  Eluff'  at  the 
beginning  of  the  new  j'ear,  and  place  at  a  jjoint 
opposite  the  Bluff  a  depot  of  stores  for  the  use  of  the 
Southern  Party  on  its  return  journey.  Joyce  was  to 
take  charge  of  tliis  work,  and  it  was  of  very  considerable 
importance,  since  we  four  of  the  Southern  Party  would 
be  depending  on  the  depot  to  supply  us  with  the  pro- 
visions necessary  for  the  last  hundred  miles  or  so  of 
the  journey  back  to  the  winter  (juarters.  Joyce  was 
accompanied  by  JNIackintosh,  Day  and  ^larston,  and 
he  found  that  as  the  snow  surface  was  very  soft  it 
would  be  necessary  to  make  two  journeys  to  the  Bluff, 
one  witli  ordinary  sledging  provisions,  and  the  other 
with  special  luxuries  from  the  ship.  The  party  left 
the  winter  quarters  at  Ca])e  Royds  on  January  15,  with 
one  sledge  and  500  lb.  of  provisions,  drawn  bj'  eight 
dogs.  Early  in  the  afternoon  they  encountered  soft 
ice,  sticky  wth  salt,  and  the  travelling  became  very 
lieavy.  Thej'  kept  well  away  from  the  land,  but  Joyce, 
^Mackintosh  and  JNIarston  all  fell  through  at  different 
times,  the  soft  surface  giving  away  under  them,  and 
they  got  wet  up  to  their  waists.  Their  clothing  froze 
stiff  at  once.  They  camped  for  the  night  at  Glacier 
Tongue,  and  the  next  morning  found  the  weather  so 
bad  that  they  were  unable  to  march.  There  was  a 
strong  southerly  wind,  with  drift,  and  this  soon  turned 
into  a  howling  blizzard.  A  calm  succeeded  at  mid- 
52 


A  Doo  Team  with  Loaded  Sledge  going  South  to  lay  a  Depot  for  the  Return  of  the 

Southern'  Party 


Dki'i.t   1*\kty  pitching  a  Tent 


fc^ 


.— ^-fl 


1  Hi,   I'.i.i  1  I    Dkpot 


A  DEPOT   PARTY 

night,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  18th  they  got 
under  way  agam.  The  dogs  had  been  buried  under  the 
drift  by  the  bhzzard,  only  their  noses  showing  at  the  sur- 
face, and  it  was  necessary  to  dig  them  out  before  they 
could  be  harnessed  up.  A  seven-foot  sledge  was  loaded 
with  300  lb.  of  store  from  the  depot  at  the  Tongue,  and 
the  four  men  took  on  the  two  sledges,  with  a  total  weight 
of  800  lb.  They  had  a  heavy  day's  work,  over 
soft  ice  and  snow-drift,  but  reached  the  old  Discovery 
winter  quarters  at  Hut  Point  at  midnight.  The  dogs 
pulled  very  well,  and  seemed  to  be  enjoying  their 
work  after  the  long  spell  of  semi-idleness  at  Cape 
Royds. 

On  the  morning  of  the  19th  the  party  proceeded 
on  to  the  Barrier.  The  surface  was  fairly  good,  and  the 
dogs  ran  practically  all  the  time,  Joyce  finding  it  neces- 
sary to  put  two  men  on  the  sledge  in  order  to  reduce  the 
speed,  for  the  men  would  not  travel  at  the  pace  set  by 
the  dogs.  The  weight  per  dog  was  well  over  100  lb., 
though  only  one  sledge  had  been  taken  on  from  Hut 
Point.  The  temperature  was  low  during  the  days  that 
followed,  and  the  men's  beards  were  constantly  coated 
with  ice,  but  their  progress  w^as  rapid.  On  January  23, 
when  they  were  travelling  over  a  deep  snow  surface 
covering  sastrugi,  they  sighted  a  depot  about  tliree 
miles  to  the  west  of  their  course.  Tliis  was  the  depot 
at  which  some  pony  fodder  had  been  left  in  the  spring. 
Soon  after  this  the  party  came  upon  crevasses  running 
at  right  angles  to  their  course,  and  the  travelling  became 
difficult.  Joyce  had  the  members  of  the  party  roped 
together,  as  the  crevasses  w^re  hidden  by  treacherous 
snow  lids  and  were  therefore  dangerous.  The  crevasses 
became  worse  in  the  following  two  days.  Some  of  the 
pressure  ridges  were  over  thirty  feet  in  height,  running 
in    an    east-south-east    and    west-north-west    direction, 

53 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

with  enormous  ci-evasses  between  them,  and  they  all 
had  the  experience  of  falling  through,  to  be  hauled  out 
again  by  means  of  the  rojie,  after  they  had  dropped 
to  the  length  of  their  liarness  with  a  heavy  jerk.  On 
one  occasion  the  four  centre  dogs  fell  through  a  snow- 
hd  into  a  crevasse,  and  were  got  out  with  great  difficulty. 
Day  and  Joyce,  with  two  leaders,  were  on  one  side  of  the 
crevasse,  and  INIackintosh  and  ^larston,  with  the  two 
rear  dogs,  were  on  the  other  side.  Day  and  Joyce  had 
to  unharness  and  ease  the  dogs,  while  the  other  two  men 
pulled  them  back  to  the  sledge.  The  dogs  meanwhile 
were  hanging  over  the  abj^ss,  and  evidently  did  not  like 
their  jiosition.  Joyce  had  to  keep  altering  his  course 
in  order  to  avoid  these  crevasses,  but  after  steering  in 
a  south-west  direction  for  about  six  hours  he  reached 
a  better  surface.  The  crevasses  were  getting  smaller, 
although  the  surface  of  neve  caused  many  falls.  An 
attempt  to  steer  south,  straight  for  the  spot  at  which  the 
depot  was  to  be  laid,  resulted  in  the  party  getting  into  the 
badly  crevassed  area  again,  and  once  more  Joyce  had  to 
steer  east-south-east.  Finally  they  got  clear  of  the 
crevasses,  and  at  midnight  on  January  2.5,  reached  the 
spot  at  which  it  had  been  decided  to  place  the  depot,  about 
fourteen  miles  off  JSIinna  Bluff. 

An  early  start  was  made  on  the  2Gth,  and  for  seven 
hours  the  party  laboured  erecting  a  mound  of  snow 
ten  feet  high.  On  top  of  the  mound  they  put  two 
eleven-foot  bamboos,  lashed  together  and  carrying 
three  black  flags.  The  total  height  of  the  depot  was 
twentj^-two  feet,  and  it  could  be  seen  at  a  distance  of 
eight  miles.  The  bearing  of  this  depot  I  had  arranged 
with  Joyce  during  the  spring  depot  journey,  before 
my  departure  for  the  southern  journey.  It  was  on  a 
line  drawn  through  a  sharp  peak  on  the  Bluff,  well- 
known  to  Joyce,  and  the  top  of  IMount  Discovery,  with 

64 


A  DISCOVERY  DEPOT 

a  cross  bearing  secured  by  getting  the  centre  peak  of 
White  Island  in  hne  with  a  peak  of  Mount  Erebus. 

The  party  started  north  again  on  the  morning  of 
the  27th,  and  after  they  had  travelled  a  short  distance 
Day  sighted  a  pole  projecting  from  the  snow,  some 
distance  to  the  west  of  their  course.  Joyce  was  able 
to  identify  this  as  the  depot  laid  out  for  the  Discovery's 
Southern  Party  in  the  spring  of  1902.  There  was  a 
bamboo  pole  about  eight  feet  liigh  projecting  from  the 
snow,  with  a  tattered  flag  attached  to  it,  and  a  food 
tin  on  top.  The  guys  to  which  the  pole  was  attached 
were  completely  buried  under  the  snow.  The  men 
dug  down  for  about  five  feet  with  the  idea  of  ascertain- 
ing how  deejjly  the  depot  had  been  covered  by  snow, 
but  as  the  bottom  had  not  been  reached  and  time  was 
limited,  they  put  fresh  flags  on  the  pole  and  proceeded 
on  their  way,  intending  to  visit  the  depot  on  the  second 
journey.  A  fresh  southerly  wind  was  blowing,  and 
rapid  progress  was  made  to  the  north  towards  Cape 
Crozier.  A  sail  was  hoisted  on  the  sledge,  and  this 
assisted  the  dogs  so  much  that  three  men  were  able 
to  sit  on  the  sledge,  while  a  pace  of  about  four  miles 
an  hour  was  maintained.  Soon  the  area  of  crevasses, 
caused  by  the  impinging  of  the  Barrier  ice  on  the  land 
to  the  west,  was  reached  again,  and  for  thirty-seven 
miles  the  party  twisted  and  turned  in  making  a  course 
past  the  obstacles;  Joyce  counted  the  crevasses  that 
were  passed,  and  he  rej^orted  that  he  had  seen  one 
hundred  and  twenty-seven,  ranging  from  two  feet  to 
thirty  feet  in  width.  The  larger  ones  were  open,  and 
therefore  easily  detected,  but  the  smaller  ones  had  the 
usual  snow-lids.  On  the  30th  the  men  were  held  up 
by  another  blizzard,  which  completely  buried  the  dogs 
and  sledge,  but  they  reached  Hut  Point  at  11  p.m.  on 
January  31. 

55 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

A  second  load  of  stores  was  secured  from  tlie  depot, 
including  some  luxuries,  such  as  apples  and  fresh 
mutton,  brought  by  a  party  from  the  ship,  and  on 
February  2  tlie  party  started  south  again.  Joyce 
decided  to  take  a  new  course  in  order  to  avoid  the 
crevasses.  He  kept  a  course  towards  Cape  Crozier 
for  two  days,  and  then  marched  south  on  the  5th  and 
reached  the  depot  without  having  seen  any  crevasses 
at  aU.  I  think  that  the  crevasses  run  right  across  to 
Cape  Crozier  from  the  district  around  ^Vhite  Island, 
but  they  are  evidently  more  snow  covered  along  the 
outer  course.  When  tlie  party  was  close  to  the  depot 
a  blizzard  came  up  from  the  south,  and  there  was  just 
time  to  get  the  tents  up  before  the  drift  became  thick. 
The  tents  were  completely  snowed  up  before  the  weather 
cleared,  and  the  men  had  some  difficulty  in  getting  out 
again.  The  dogs  were  covered,  but  they  seemed  to 
be  quite  happy  in  their  "  nests "  deep  in  the  drift. 
When  dogs  and  sledge  had  been  dug  out  the  party  started 
again,  and  at  2  a.:m.  on  the  8th  they  reached  the  Bluff 
depot  for  the  second  time. 

"  We  expected  to  find  the  Southern  Party  camped 
there,  and  to  surprise  them  with  the  luxuries  we  had 
brought  out  for  them,"  wrote  Joyce  in  his  report,  "  but 
they  were  not  there.  As  our  orders  were  to  return  on 
the  10th  if  the  Southern  Party  did  not  turn  up,  we 
began  to  feel  rather  uneasy.  It  came  on  to  blow  again 
from  the  south,  and  presently  the  wnd  turned  into  a 
howling  blizzard,  and  did  not  ease  dowTi  until  the  11th. 
During  every  lull  we  climbed  the  depot  and  looked 
round  the  horizon  witli  the  glasses,  expecting  every 
minute  to  see  the  Southern  Party  loom  up  out  of  the 
whiteness,  but  they  did  not  appear.  On  the  11th, 
after  a  consultation,  we  decided  to  lay  depot  flags  in 
towards  the  Bluff,  so  that  there  would  be  no  chance  of 

56 


'I'lIK  DEPOT  TAUTY  AMONGST  CKKV ASSES 


^ 


SOUTHERN  PARTY  OVERDUE 

the  other  party  missing  the  food  depot.  We  knew 
that  they  would  be  run  out  of  provisions,  as  they  were 
then  eleven  days  overdue,  and  the  position  caused  us 
great  anxiety.  After  we  had  laid  the  flags,  three  miles 
and  a  half  apart,  with  directions  where  to  find  the 
depot,  we  decided  to  march  due  south  to  look  for  the 
Southern  Party.  At  every  rest  we  would  get  on  the 
sledge  with  the  glasses,  and  look  around,  thinking  that 
each  snow  hummock  was  a  man  or  a  tent.  On  the 
13th  Day  sighted  some  marks  in  the  snow  that  looked 
unusual,  and  on  examination  we  found  them  to  be  the 
hoof-pi'ints  of  the  ponies,  evidently  made  on  the  outward 
march  of  the  Southern  Party  three  months  before. 
The  tracks  of  the  four  sledges  showed  distinctly.  We 
followed  these  tracks  for  seven  hours,  and  then  we  lost 
them.  We  camped  that  night  at  10  v.m.,  and  early 
the  next  morning  proceeded  south  again,  thinking  all 
the  time  that  we  would  see  something  appear  out  of 
the  loneliness.  It  is  curious  what  things  one  can  see 
in  circumstances  like  these,  especially  with  a  bad  light. 
We  started  back  to  the  depot  with  all  sorts  of  fears  for 
the  Southern  Party." 

They  reached  the  depot  again  at  noon  on  the  16th, 
and  Joj'ce  states  that  as  they  approached  the  mound 
they  were  all  sure  that  they  could  see  a  tent  up  and 
men  walking  about.  ^Vhen  they  got  close,  however, 
they  found  that  everji;hing  was  just  as  they  had  left 
it.  They  put  all  the  pro\'isions  on  top  of  the  mound, 
lashed  everytliing  securely,  and  examined  the  flags 
to  the  eastward,  and  started  on  the  march  back  to  the 
coast,  full  of  gloomy  thoughts  as  to  the  fate  of  the 
Southern  Party,  which  was  now  eighteen  days  overdue. 

They  proceeded  first  to  the  old  Discovery  depot 
found  on  the  first  journey,  Joyce  wishing  to  take  some 
measurements  in  order  to   ascertain  the  movement  of 

57 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

the  Barrier  ice,  and  the  amount  of  the  snowfall.  The 
depot  had  been  laid  six  years  previously  on  bearings 
ofl"  the  ElufF,  and  after  its  original  position  had  been 
ascertained  as  exactly  as  possible,  the  distance  to  the 
bamboo  pole  was  measured  off  by  Day  and  Marston 
with  a  forty-foot  length  of  rope,  which  had  been 
measured  off  with  a  tape-measure.  The  distance  was 
found  to  be  9G00  ft.,  and  the  direction  of  the  movement 
was  about  east-north-east.  The  Barrier  ice  at  tliis 
point  must  therefore  be  moving  forward  at  the  rate  of 
about  1500  ft.  a  year.  The  party  then  worked  till 
1  A.M.  digging  down  in  order  to  find  what  depth  of 
snow  had  been  deposited  on  top  of  the  depot  during 
the  six  years.  It  was  found  that  the  level  at  which 
the  stays  of  the  depot  pole  had  been  made  fast  was 
eight  feet  tliree  inches  down  in  hard  compressed  snow. 
A  measured  quantity  of  this  snow  was  melted  in  order 
to  ascertain  the  actual  amount  of  the  snowfall.  The 
interesting  points  involved  in  these  investigations  will 
be  dealt  with  in  the  reports  on  the  scientific  work  of  the 
expedition. 

The  party  started  north  again  on  the  following  day, 
and  covered  a  distance  of  thirty-three  miles.  The  dogs 
pulled  splendidly,  and  three  men  were  able  to  ride  on 
the  sledge.  On  the  second  day  crevasses  were  en- 
countered again,  and  several  times  men  fell  through 
to  the  length  of  their  harness.  The  general  direction 
of  the  crevasses  was  east-south-east  and  west-south- 
west. The  party  had  a  narrow  escape  from  complete 
disaster  at  this  stage.  "  We  were  going  at  a  good  trot 
over  a  ver\'  hard  surface,"  -HTote  Joyce,  "  when  I  felt 
my  foot  go  through.  I  called  out  *  Crack ! '  and  rushed 
the  dogs  over,  and  as  the  sledge  touched  the  other 
side  of  the  hard  ridge,  the  whole  snow-bridge  over 
which  we  had  passed  fell  in.     Marston,  who  was  running 

58 


*     Digging  to  ascertain  the  depth  of  snow  covering  a  depot  left  by  the  "  Discovery"  Expedition 


GOOD  WORK  BY  DOGS 

astern  of  the  sledge,  felt  himself  falling  through  space, 
but  the  pace  of  the  dogs  brought  him  over  the  crevasse, 
at  the  length  of  liis  harness.  We  found  ourselves  stand- 
ing on  the  edge  of  a  ya^\Tiing  gap  that  would  easily 
have  swallowed  up  sledge,  dogs,  and  the  whole  party,  and 
on  the  far  side  we  could  see  our  sledge  tracks  leading  right 
up  to  the  edge.  It  seemed  almost  a  miracle  how  we  had 
managed  to  esca23e.  Day  took  a  photograph,  and  we 
altered  the  course  for  Cape  Crozier,  getting  out  of  the 
crevasses  about  5  p.m.  Then  we  camped  for  the  night, 
having  all  had  a  good  shaking  up." 

A  long  march  the  next  day  over  a  good  surface 
brought  the  party  to  Cape  Armitage  at  midnight. 
Joj'ce  found  that  the  ice  in  the  sound  had  gone  out, 
and  it  was  therefore  necessary  to  climb  through  the 
gap  at  Observation  Hill.  A  blizzard  came  up,  and 
with  great  difficult}^  the  party  reached  the  old  Discovery 
hut  at  Hut  Point  at  2  a.m.  The  distance  covered  during 
the  day  had  been  forty-five  miles,  an  unusually  good 
performance.  The  surface  had  been  good,  and  the 
wnd  favourable,  and  the  dogs  had  pulled  splendidly. 
Joj'ce  speaks  verj-  highly  of  the  work  of  the  dogs  on 
this  journej".  They  were  pulling  over  100  lb.  per  dog, 
and  yet  ran  most  of  the  time.  They  suffered  a  good 
deal  from  snow-blindness,  and  then  they  used  to  dig  a 
hole  in  the  snow  and  bury  their  faces  right  in;  this 
method  of  treatment  seemed  to  ease  their  eyes  and 
they  recovered  from  the  attacks  very  quickly.  "  One 
day  I  released  Tripp,  because  he  had  a  chafed  leg," 
wrote  Joyce,  "  and  for  the  whole  day  he  ran  in  his  place 
in  the  team,  as  if  he  had  been  harnessed  up.  He  slept 
about  half  a  mile  from  camp  that  night,  and  when  I 
tried  to  coax  him  over  in  the  morning  he  would  not  come, 
but  as  soon  as  we  got  under  way  he  came  nimiing  up  to 
his  old  place.     I  fed  the  dogs  on  one  pound  of  biscuit  a 

59 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

day  each,  and  this  seemed  to  satisfy  them;  as  they  went 
on  their  condition  improved.  The  dog  harness  was  gen- 
erally satisfactory,  but  could  have  been  improved  with  a 
few  more  swivels,  in  order  to  avoid  tangling  when  the  dogs 
jumped  over  their  traces.  I  think  that  all  dog  teams 
should  be  taught  to  be  driven,  as  a  man  cannot  keep  pace 
with  dogs,  and  holding  them  back  in  order  that  a  man 
may  go  ahead  catises  them  to  get  fagged  out.  If  they 
were  let  go  at  their  best  pace,  one  could,  with  a  light  load, 
say  80  lb.  per  dog,  get  forty  miles  a  day  out  of  them 
over  a  good  surface." 


THE  WESTERN  JOURNEY 

]V/rEANWHILE  the  Western  Party,  which  had  left 
■^  -'■  the  winter  quarters  for  the  second  time  on 
December  9,  had  been  working  in  the  western  moun- 
tains. The  three  men  ( Army tage,  Priestley  and  Brockle- 
hurst)  reached  the  stranded  moraines  on  December  13, 
and  on  this  occasion  succeeded  in  securing  a  large 
supply  of  skuas'  eggs.  The  anticipated  feast  was  not 
enjoyed,  however,  for  only  about  a  dozen  of  the  eggs 
were  "  good  enough  for  eating,"  to  quote  the  words  of 
a  member  of  the  party.  The  other  eggs  were  thrown 
on  to  the  snow  near  the  tent,  and  the  result  was  an 
invasion  of  skuas,  which  not  only  ate  the  eggs,  but  also 
made  themselves  a  general  nuisance  by  puUing  about 
the  sledge  harness  and  stores.  At  tliis  time  the  men 
were  troubled  by  patches  of  thin  ice,  about  an  eighth  to  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  tliick,  forming  a  lenticle,  the  top  of 
the  middle  being  sometimes  as  much  as  five  or  six  inches 
from  the  actual  surface.  When  these  patches  of  ice  were 
trodden  on  they  broke  dowTi,  and  not  infrequently  dis- 
closed a  puddle  of  salt  water  an  inch  or  two  deep. 
Priestley  thought  that  they  were  the  final  product  of  the 
thawing  of  snowdrifts,  and  owed  their  character  to  the 
fact  that  the  salt  water  worked  faster  from  below  than 
did  the  sun  from  above. 

On  December  15  the  party  started  to  ascend  the  Ferrar 
Glacier,  Priestley  examining  the  rocks  carefully  on  the 
way  with  a  view  to  securing  fossils  if  any  were  to  be 
found.     The  surface  was  bad   for  the  most  part,   soft 

61 


THE   HEART  OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

snow  being  encountered  where  ice  had  been  expected. 
On  December  19  they  were  held  up  by  a  bhzzard,  and 
then  they  got  on  to  very  sUppery  crevassed  ice.  On 
Ueceniber  20  they  camped  near  the  Sohtary  Rocks, 
at  the  spot  at  wliich  Captain  Scott  had  camped  after 
leaving  Dry  Valley.  The  idea  of  getting  to  Depot 
Nunatak  had  to  be  abandoned,  for  a  heavy  snowfall 
made  the  travelling  difficult,  and  the  time  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  expedition  was  short.  Priestley  worked 
under  the  Bluff  between  Dry  Valley  and  the  east  fork 
of  the  glacier  without  success,  and  then  they  moved 
over  to  Obelisk  JMount.  "  I  have  examined  block  after 
block  of  unfossiliferous-looking  sandstone  without  any 
success,"  ^\Tote  Priestley  in  his  dian,-  on  the  evening  of 
the  21st.  "  The  only  thing  I  can  find  different  from 
the  ordinary  quartz  grains  are  a  few  seams  of  conglom- 
erate with  quartz  pebbles,  and  a  few  lenticles  of  a 
soft  clayey  substance.  The  other  rock  I  have  collected 
here  is  a  junction  between  granite  and  porph}'Tj%  which 
is  common.  The  sandstone  is  very  weathered,  dropping 
to  pieces  in  many  cases  at  a  single  blow.  I  am  faced 
with  tlie  necessity  of  examining  for  fossils  rocks  which 
I  should  carefully  avoid  if  I  were  at  home  or  anywhere 
else.  I  have  never  seen  a  sedimentary  rock  that  looked 
more  unfossiliferous.  Many  of  the  boulders  are  coated 
with  a  hard  crust  of  white,  opaque  salt  ( probably  calcium 
carbonate),  and  if  there  was  ever  any  lime  in  the  sand- 
stone it  has  probably  been  dissolved  out  long  ago. 
There  are  numerous  interesting  rocks  about  here,  but  I 
am  debarred  from  collecting  much  by  the  difficulty  of 
transport.  .  .  .  There  are  evidently  serious  defects 
in  the  map  near  this  point.  The  whole  of  the  bluff 
opposite  is  marked  as  Beacon  sandstone,  and  from  the 
face  of  the  cliff  here  it  is  easily  seen,  for  at  least  3000 
feet,  to  be  granite;  the  very  grain  in  the  stones  can 

62 


Camp  on   Ut:t-EMBER   17  on  THt:  Feku.a.r  Glaciek  ullow  Sentinll  Rock. 


lluM.Il     1, 


*  Ti. 


H\S';i\(i    (iLA(IIIt>    ON    TlIK     liltl> 


IN  SEARCH  OF  FOSSILS 

be  seen.  Tlais  granite  is  capped  by  the  beacon  sand- 
stone on  the  tops  of  the  lulls,  but  the  dolerite  seems  to 
have  died  out,  with  the  exception  of  the  upper  flow. 
This  formation  is  as  it  should  be,  taking  into  considera- 
tion the  horizontal  structure  of  the  rocks,  and  it  was  the 
fact  that  I  doubted  the  existence  of  Beacon  sandstone 
so  low  down  the  series  that  brought  me  here,  as  much  as 
the  expectation  of  findmg  fossils  if  the  mapping  should 
be  correct." 

At  tliis  time  thawing  was  proceeding  rapidly  on 
the  glacier.  The  j^arty  made  for  the  north  wall  of  the 
glacier,  but  was  stopped  by  a  precipice  of  ice,  200  to 
300  feet  in  height,  with  a  stream  of  water  flowing  at 
its  foot.  The  deeper  ripple-cracks  and  potholes  were 
filled  with  water,  and  water  was  streaming  down  the 
convex  face  of  the  glacier  to  the  stream  which  was 
roaring  beneath  the  ice- face.  The  scene  was  a  magnif- 
icent one,  but  the  conditions  were  unjileasant  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  party.  The  ice  was  separated 
from  the  rock  at  the  sides  of  the  glacier  by  a  thaw-gully 
about  fifty  feet  deep,  with  a  stream  of  water  flow- 
ing at  the  bottom.  Then  came  the  lateral  moraine,  wliich 
was  still  within  the  region  in  which  the  rock-heat  was  felt, 
and  formed  a  depression  some  three  to  six  feet  below  the 
main  surface  of  the  glacier,  commencing  as  an  abrupt 
rise,  almost  perpendicular,  but  somewhat  convex. 
After  this  came  the  ordinary  billowy  surface,  and  the 
next  stones  met  with  formed  a  sub-medial  moraine 
not  sufficiently  thick  to  effect  any  lowering  in  the  general 
level  of  the  surface,  although  each  stone  was  surrounded 
by  its  own  hollow,  filled  with  thaw  water.  Along  the 
middle  meandered  a  small  stream,  a  few  feet  vnde,  with 
the  bottom  of  its  channel  filled  with  morainic  gravel 
matter.  In  the  evening  freezing  commenced  in  the 
potholes  that  were  sheltered  from  the  rays  of  the  sun. 

63 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Long  needles  of  ice  formed  from  the  small  grains  of 
gravel,  and  crossed  and  recrossed  in  the  most  beautiful 
pattern.  In  some  holes  hexagonal  plates  of  ice  were 
being  formed  on  the  surface. 

An  examination  of  the  Solitary  Rocks  proved  that 
the  map  was  incorrect  at  tliis  point.  The  previous 
expedition  had  thought  that  the  rocks  formed  an  island, 
with  the  glacier  flowing  down  on  either  side,  but  a  close 
examination  showed  that  the  rocks  were  in  reality  a 
peninsula,  joined  to  the  main  north  wall  by  an  isthmus 
of  granite  at  least  one  thousand  feet  high.  The  glacier 
surged  round  the  peninsvda  on  its  way  down  Drj'  Valley, 
and  just  below  the  isthmus  was  a  lake  of  some  size,  fed 
by  streams  from  a  glacier  opposite.  These  streams 
were  yellow  with  silt,  and  another  stream,  also  much 
discoloured,  was  running  from  the  lake  down  to  Dry 
Valley.  The  Solitary  Rocks  are  at  an  altitude  of 
about  two  thousand  feet  above  sea-level.  Priestley 
proceeded  with  geological  and  survey  w-ork  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  east  fork,  and  made  an  extensive 
examination  of  the  spots  known  as  Kurki  Kills,  Knob 
Head  ^Mount  and  AVindy  (iuUy.  On  December  24, 
close  to  the  camp,  they  found  the  bleached  skeleton  of 
a  crabeater  seal.  It  is  rather  curious  that  one  of  these 
animals  should  proceed  so  far  uj)  the  glacier.  A  new 
camp  Avas  ])itched  at  the  foot  of  Knob  Head  ^Mountain, 
just  below  the  second  gully  east  of  Windy  Gully,  and 
here  Armji:age  and  Priestley  climbed  up  the  slope 
behind  to  an  altitude  of  4200  ft.,  finding  a  yellow  lichen 
at  3100  ft.,  a  black  lichen  at  3800  ft.  and  a  green  lichen 
or  moss  at  4200  ft.  The  altitude  of  the  camp  was 
2470  ft. 

Christmas  Day  was  spent  at  this  camp,  and,  as  was 
the  case  with  the  other  sledging  expeditions  that  were 
out   at   the   time,    a   special   feast   was   proA-ided.     For 

64 


CHRISTMAS   ON   A   GLACIER 

breakfast  they  had  hoosh,  sardines  in  tomato  sauce  and 
raisins;  for  lunch  Garibaldi  biscuits  and  jelly;  and  for 
dinner  potted  boneless  chicken  and  a  small  plum 
pudding.  Armytage  picked  up  a  piece  of  sandstone 
Avith  fernlike  markings,  but  Priestley  was  not  hopeful 
of  finding  fossils  in  the  greatly  altered  sandstone.  The 
day  was  spent  in  geological  work.  "  We  lose  the  sun 
here  about  9.30  p.m.,"  noted  Priestley  in  liis  diarj^  "  and 
it  is  curious  to  observe  the  sudden  change  from  bright 
light  to  darkness  in  the  tent,  while  outside  the  thin 
surface  of  ice  covering  the  thaw-water  round  the  rocks 
immediately  contracts  with  reports  like  a  succession  of 
pistol-shots,  and  sometimes  breaks  up  and  flies  about 
in  all  directions,  making  a  noise  like  broken  glass. 
This  is  the  effect  of  the  quick  cooling  of  the  ice  by  the 
cold  plateau  wind  immediately  the  sun's  influence  is 
withdrawn.  The  plum  pudding  was  '  top  hole.'  Must 
remember  to  give  one  of  the  pot-holed  sandstones  to 
Wild  for  the  New  Zealand  girl  who  gave  him  the  plum 
pudding." 

On  December  27  the  men  proceeded  down  the  glacier 
again  in  order  to  see  whether  the  Northern  Party  had 
arrived  at  Butter  Point.  Priestley  studied  the  moraines 
on  the  way  down,  and  made  an  extensive  collection  of 
specimens,  and  on  January  1  they  arrived  at  the  depot. 
They  had  constant  trouble  with  crevasses  and  "  pot- 
holes "  on  the  way  dowTi  the  glacier,  but  met  with  no 
serious  accident.  The  snow-bridges  many  times  let  them 
through  up  to  their  knees  or  waists,  but  never  broke  away 
entirely.  The  weather  was  unpleasantly  warm  for  the 
sort  of  work  they  were  undertaking,  since  the  snow  was 
thawing,  and  they  were  constantly  wet. 

They  found  no  sign  of  the  Northern  Party  at  Butter 
Point,  and  after  waiting  there  until  the  6th  they  pro- 
ceeded to  the  "  stranded  moraines,"  a  day's  trek  to  the 

Vol.  n.-6  65 


THE   HEART  OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

south,  in  order  that  geological  specimens  might  be 
secured.  The  moraines,  which  were  found  by  the 
Discovery  expedition,  and  are  relics  of  the  days  of  more 
extensive  glaciation,  present  a  most  varied  collection 
of  rocks,  representative  of  the  geological  conditions  to 
be  found  in  the  mountains  to  the  west,  and  are  of  very 
great  interest  on  that  account.  After  spending  two 
days  at  this  spot,  the  party  went  back  to  Butter  Point 
with  about  250  lb.  of  specimens,  and  camped  again  till 
the  11th.  Still  there  was  no  sign  of  the  Northern  Party, 
and  on  the  12th  they  went  north  to  Dry  Vallej'.  There 
Priestley  found  a  raised  beach,  about  sixty  feet  above 
sea-level,  and  Brocklehurst  climbed  the  mountain  known 
as  the  Harbour  Heights. 

Numerous  fragments  of  Pecten  Colbecki,  the  shell 
at  present  common  at  Cape  Royds,  were  found  imbedded 
in  the  sand  as  far  up  as  sixty  feet,  and  Priestley  thought 
that  they  would  probably  be  found  higher  still.  Writing 
of  the  moraines  at  this  point,  he  said:  "In  their  chief 
characteristics  they  are  very  similar  to  the  stranded 
moraines.  Large  patches  of  gravel  are  mixed  with 
boulders  of  every  description  and  size,  a  chaos  of 
sedimentary,  volcanic,  plutonic,  hypabyssal  and  meta- 
morphic  rocks,  segmented  by  watercourses,  which  are 
bordered  by  flats  of  gravel  and  spread  out  before  reach- 
ing the  sea  over  large,  alluvial,  fan-shaped  mudflats. 
They  differ  from  the  stranded  moraines  in  the  j^resence 
of  numerous  specimens  of  now  existing  shells,  imbedded 
in  the  gravel  and  sand  of  the  moraines,  but  found  in 
most  cases  under  any  steep  declivity  in  a  stream's  bed 
where  it  has  cut  back  through  a  gravel  terrace.  The 
remarkable  part  of  the  preservation  of  these  shells  is 
their  extreme  fragility.  Of  Pecten  Colbecki  I  have 
seen  thousands  of  specimens,  and  have  secured  many 
whole  single  valves.     Of  the  Anatana  so   common   at 

66 


Westers  Party  in  Camp  ox  December  20 


/ 


■.i 


Looking   down  the  Eastern  Arm  of  the  Febrah  GLAriER  towards  Dry  ^'ALI.EY  from 

Solitary  Rocks 


Dry  Valley 


ADRIFT   ON   A  FLOE 

Cape  Royds  I  came  across  several  patches.  At  the 
head  of  one  of  the  aluvial  mudflats,  about  two  feet 
above  the  present  level  of  the  sea-water,  I  secured  many 
dried  bodies  of  a  small  amphipod  and  a  dried  fish  an 
inch  long.  The  whole  of  the  moraines  so  far  as  I  have 
been  are  covered  with  seal  bones,  and  I  have  seen  two 
Avhole  dried  bodies,  with  the  skin  stiU  on.  One  was  a 
crabeater.  Among  several  rock  specimens  secured 
was  one  of  Beacon  sandstone  with  the  same  curious 
markings  as  were  found  on  two  specimens  secured  by 
Armytage  at  Knob  Head.  The  impression  in  the 
original  stone  was  exactly  as  if  the  body  of  a  wasp-like 
wingless  insect  several  inches  long  had  been  pressed 
into  clay." 

They  went  back  to  the  depot  on  the  14th,  and  in 
accordance  with  the  orders  I  had  left,  pitched  camp  in 
order  to  wait  for  the  Northern  Party  until  the  25th, 
when  they  were  to  make  their  way  back  to  winter 
quarters,  or  signal  for  the  ship  by  means  of  the  helio- 
graph. On  January  24-25  this  party  had  a  very 
narrow  escape  from  disaster.  They  were  camped  on 
the  sea-ice  at  the  foot  of  Butter  Point,  intending  to 
move  off  on  the  return  journey  early  on  the  morning  of 
the  25th.  Their  position  was  apparently  one  of  safety. 
Armytage  had  examined  the  tide-crack  along  the  shore, 
and  had  found  no  sign  of  more  than  ordinary  movement, 
and  the  ice  in  the  neighborhood  seemed  to  be  quite 
fast.  At  7  A.M.  on  the  24th  Priestley  was  first  out 
of  the  tent,  and  a  few  minutes  later  he  came  mnning  back 
to  his  companions  to  tell  them  that  the  ice  they  were  on 
had  broken  away  and  was  drifting  away  north  to  the 
open  sea.  The  other  two  men  turned  out  promptly, 
and  found  that  his  statement  was  only  too  true.  There 
were  two  miles  of  open  water  between  the  floe  and  the 
shore,  and  they  were  apparently  moving  steadily  out  to 

67 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

sea.  "  When  we  found  that  the  ice  had  gone  out," 
wrote  Armytage  m  his  report  to  me,  "  we  struck  camp, 
loaded  up  the  sledge,  and  started  away  with  the  object 
of  seeing  whether  we  could  get  off  the  floe  to  the  north. 
The  position  seemed  to  be  rather  serious,  for  we  could 
not  hope  to  cross  any  stx'etch  of  open  water,  there  was 
no  reasonable  expectation  of  assistance  from  the  ship, 
and  most  of  our  food  was  at  Butter  Point.  We  had  not 
gone  very  far  to  the  north  before  we  came  to  an  impassible 
lane  of  open  water,  and  we  decided  to  return  to  our 
original  position.  We  went  into  camp,  and  had  break- 
fast at  11  A.M.  Then  we  held  a  consultation  and 
agreed  that  it  would  be  best  to  stop  where  we  then  were 
for  a  time,  at  any  rate,  on  the  off-chance  of  the  ship 
coming  along  one  of  the  lanes  to  pick  us  uj)  on  the 
following  day,  or  of  the  current  changing  and  the  ice 
once  more  touching  the  shore.  We  waited  till  three 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  but  there  did  not  seem  to  be 
any  im])rovement  in  the  position.  The  Killer  whales 
were  spouting  in  the  chamiels,  and  occasionally  l)umping 
the  ice  under  us.  Then  we  marched  north  again,  but 
met  wth  open  water  in  every  direction,  and  after  we 
had  marched  right  round  the  floe  we  got  into  camp  at 
the  old  j)osition  at  10  p.ji.  We  had  a  small  meal  of 
hoosh  and  biscuit.  We  had  only  four  days'  provisions 
on  the  floe  with  us,  and  I  decided  that  we  would  have 
to  go  on  short  rations.  We  were  encouraged  by  the 
fact  that  Ave  had  apparently  ceased  to  move  north,  and 
were  perhaps  getting  nearer  the  fast  ice  again.  We 
got  into  our  sleeping-bags  in  order  to  keep  warm.  At 
11.30  P.M.  Brocklehurst  turned  out  to  see  whether  the 
position  had  changed,  and  reported  that  we  seemed  to 
be  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  the  fast  ice,  and  still 
moAing  towards  the  land.  I  got  out  of  my  bag  and 
put  on  my  finnesko,  and  at  midnight  saw  that  we  were 

68 


WESTERN  PARTY  PICKED  UP 

very  close  to  the  fast  ice,  probably  not  more  than  two 
hundred  yards  away.  I  ran  back  as  fast  as  I  could, 
deciding  that  there  was  a  prospect  of  an  attempt  to 
get  ashore  proving  successful,  and  gave  the  other  two 
men  a  shout.  They  struck  the  camp  and  loaded  up 
within  a  very  few  minutes,  whUe  I  went  back  to  the 
edge  of  the  floe  at  the  spot  towards  which  chance  had 
first  directed  my  steps.  Just  as  the  sledge  got  up  to 
me,  I  felt  the  floe  bump  the  fast  ice.  Not  more  than 
six  feet  of  the  edge  touched,  but  we  were  just  at  that 
spot,  and  we  rushed  over  the  bridge  thus  formed.  We 
had  only  just  got  over  when  the  floe  moved  away  again, 
and  this  time  it  went  north  to  the  open  sea.  The  only 
place  at  wliich  it  touched  the  fast  ice  was  that  to  which 
I  had  gone  when  I  left  the  tent,  and  had  I  happened  to 
go  to  any  other  spot  we  would  not  have  escaped.  We 
made  our  way  to  Butter  Point,  and  at  about  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning  camped  and  had  a  good  meal. 
Then  we  turned  in  and  slept.  When  we  got  up  for 
breakfast,  there  was  open  water  where  we  had  been 
drifting  on  the  floe,  and  I  sighted  the  Nimrod  under 
sail,  ten  or  twelve  miles  out.  We  laid  the  heliograph 
on  to  the  vessel,  and  after  flasliing  for  about  an  hour 
got  a  reply.  The  Nimrod  came  alongside  the  fast  ice 
at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  Januarj'  26,  and  we 
went  on  board  with  our  equipment  and  specimens.  We 
left  a  depot  of  provisions  and  oil  at  Butter  Point  in  case 
the  Northern  Party  should  reach  that  point  after  our 
departure." 

On  January  22  and  23  a  fresh  wind  blew  from  the 
south  and  commenced  to  break  up  the  ice-sheet  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Cape  Royds,  compelling  the  sliip  to  re- 
fasten  further  to  the  southward.  From  this  point  Davis 
took  a  sledge-party  to  Hut  Point  with  despatches  that 

69 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

the  supporting-party  was  to  convey  to  me  at  the  Bluff 
Depot.  On  the  25th  the  ice  had  broken  up  to  such  an 
extent  that  Captain  Evans  thought  there  would  be  a 
chance  of  getting  far  enough  across  McMurdo  Sound  to 
search  the  western  coast-line  for  the  party  that  liad  been 
exploring  the  western  mountains,  and  also  for  the  North- 
ern Party,  which  might  by  that  time  have  returned  from 
the  journey  to  the  ^lagnetic  Pole  and  reached  liutter 
Point.  The  Nimrod  stood  out  into  the  sound,  and  from 
a  distance  of  ten  or  twelve  miles  a  heliograph  was  seen 
twinkling  near  Butter  Point.  The  ship  was  able  to  get 
right  alongside  the  fast  ice,  and  picked  up  Armytage, 
Priestley  and  Brocklehurst. 

After  this  date  fine  weather  was  experienced  only  at 
short  intervals,  the  season  bemg  advanced,  and  as  a 
consequence  the  fast  ice  that  remained  in  the  sound 
conmienced  to  break  up  rapidly,  and  took  the  form  of 
pack  trending  northwards.  When  blizzards  blew,  as 
they  did  frequently,  the  Nimrod  moored  on  the  lee-side 
of  a  stranded  iceberg  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cape 
Barne,  with  the  object  of  preserving  her  position  wthout 
the  consumption  of  more  coal  than  was  absolutely 
necessary.  After  the  ice  had  broken  up  sufficiently, 
shelter  was  found  under  Glacier  Tongue. 

The  waiting  was  rather  unpleasant  for  the  remaining 
members  of  the  shore-party  and  for  those  on  board  the 
ship,  for  the  time  was  approaching  when  it  would  be 
necessary  to  leave  for  the  north  unless  the  Nimrod  Mas 
to  be  frozen  in  for  the  winter,  and  two  of  the  parties 
were  still  out.  I  had  left  instructions  that  if  the 
Northern  Party  had  not  returned  by  February  1  a  search 
was  to  be  made  along  the  western  coast  in  a  northerly 
direction.  The  party  was  three  weeks  overdue,  and 
on  February-  1,  therefore,  the  Nimrod  went  north,  and 

70 


SEARCH  FOR  NORTHERN  PARTY 

Captain  Evans  proceeded  to  make  a  close  examination 
of  the  coast.  The  ship  did  not  get  back  to  the  hut  untU 
February  11.  During  this  time  ^Murray  and  Priestley 
found  work  of  scientific  interest.  Priestley  tramped 
the  country,  and  now  that  the  snow  had  in  great  measure 
disappeared,  was  enabled  to  see  various  interesting 
geological  deposits  previously  covered  up.  Beds  of 
sponge  spicules,  enclosing  various  other  fossils,  were 
evidence  of  recent  elevation  of  the  sea  bottom.  A  thick 
deposit  of  salts  was  found  on  a  mound  between  two 
lakes,  and  some  curious  volcanic  formations  were  dis- 
covered. The  smaller  ponds  were  entirely  melted,  and 
gave  a  chance  to  find  some  forms  of  life  not  evident  in 
winter.  The  penguins  continued  to  afford  [Murray 
material  for  study. 

The  Nimrod's  search  for  the  Northern  Party  was 
both  difficult  and  dangerous.  Captain  Evans  had  to 
keep  close  to  the  coast,  in  order  to  guard  against  the 
possibility  of  overlooking  a  signal,  which  might  consist 
only  of  a  small  flag,  and  the  sea  was  obstructed  by 
pack-ice.  He  was  to  go  north  as  far  as  a  sandy  beach 
on  the  northern  side  of  the  Drygalski  Barrier,  and  he 
performed  his  duty  most  thoroughly  in  the  face  of 
what  he  afterwards  modestly  described  as  "  small  navi- 
gational difficulties."  The  beach,  which  had  been 
marked  on  the  chart,  was  found  to  have  no  existence  in 
fact,  but  the  Nimrod  reached  the  neighbourhood  indi- 
cated, and  then  proceeded  south  again,  still  searching 
ever\'  yard  of  the  coast.  On  the  4th  a  tent  was  sighted 
on  the  edge  of  the  Barrier,  and  when  a  double  detonator 
was  fired  the  three  men  who  had  been  to  the  [Magnetic 
Pole  came  tumbling  out  and  ran  down  towards  the 
edge  of  the  ice.  Mawson  was  in  such  a  hurrj'  that  he 
fell  down  a  crevasse,  and  did  not  get  out  again  until  a 

71 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

party  from  the  ship  went  to  his  assistance.  "  They  were 
the  happiest  men  I  have  ever  seen,"  said  Davis  in  describ- 
ing the  finding  of  the  party.  Their  sledge,  equipment 
and  specimens  were  taken  on  the  Nimrod,  which  was  able 
to  moor  right  alongside  the  fast  ice,  and  then  Captain 
Evans  proceeded  back  to  the  winter  quarters.  In  the 
chapters  that  follow  Professor  David  tells  the  story  of  the 
Northern  Party's  journey. 


chapter  ^i% 

PROFESSOR  DAVID'S  NARRATIVE 

ON  September  19,  1908,  Lieutenant  Shackleton  gave 
me  his  final  instructions  for  the  journey  of  the 
Northern  Party  to  the  ]\Iagnetic  Pole.  These  he  read 
over  to  me  in  the  presence  of  ]Mawson  and  Dr.  Mackay. 
The  instructions  were  as  follows : 

"  British  Antarctic  Expedition,  1907. 

"  Cape  Royds,  September  19,  1908. 

Instructions  for  Northern  Sledge-pakty  under 
Command  of  Professor  E.  David. 

"  Dear  Sir, — The  sledge-party  which  j'ou  have  charge 
of  consists  of  yourself,  Douglas  ISIawson  and  Ahstair 
Mackay. 

"  You  will  leave  winter  quarters  on  or  about  October  1, 
1908.  The  main  objects  of  your  journey  are  to  be  as 
follows : 

"  ( 1 )  To  take  magnetic  observations  at  every  suitable 
point  with  a  \'iew  of  determming  the  dip  and  the  position 
of  the  ^lagnetic  Pole.  If  time  permits,  and  j'our  equip- 
ment and  supplies  are  sufficient,  you  will  try  and  reach 
the  Magnetic  Pole. 

"  (2)  To  make  a  general  geological  survey  of  the 
coast  of  Victoria  Land.  In  connection  with  this  work 
you  wall  not  sacrifice  the  time  that  might  be  used  to 
carry  out  the  work  noted  in  paragraph   (1).     It  is  un- 

73 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

necessary  for  me  to  describe  or  instruct  you  as  to  details 
re  this  work,  as  you  know  so  much  better  than  I  do  what 
is  requisite. 

"(3)  I  particularly  wish  you  to  be  able  to  work  at 
the  geology  of  the  Western  ;^Iountains,  and  for  ^lawson 
to  spend  at  least  one  fortnight  at  Dry  Vallej'  to  prospect 
for  minerals  of  economic  value  on  your  return  from  the 
north,  and  for  this  work  to  be  carried  out  satisfactorily 
you  should  return  to  Dry  Valley  not  later  than  the  first 
week  of  January.  I  do  not  Avish  to  limit  you  to  an  exact 
date  for  return  to  Dry  Valley  if  you  think  that  by 
lengthening  your  stay  up  north  you  can  reach  the 
IVIagnetic  Pole,  but  you  must  not  delay,  if  time  is  short, 
on  your  way  south  again  to  do  geological  work.  I 
consider  that  the  thorough  investigation  of  Dry  Valley  is 
of  supreme  importance. 

"(i)  The  Nimrod  is  expected  in  the  Sound  about 
January  15,  1909.  It  is  quite  possible  you  may  see  her 
from  the  west.  If  so,  you  should  try  to  attract  at- 
tention by  heliograph  to  winter  quarters.  You  should 
choose  the  hours  noon  to  1  r.:M.  to  flash  your  signal,  and 
if  seen  at  winter  quarters  the  return  signal  will  be  flashed 
to  you,  and  the  Nimrod  will  steam  across  as  far  as  possible 
to  meet  you  and  wait  at  the  ice-edge.  If  the  ship  is 
not  in,  and  if  she  is  and  your  signals  are  not  seen,  you 
will  take  into  account  your  supply  of  provisions  and 
proceed  either  to  Glacier  Tongue  or  Hut  Point  to  re- 
plenish if  there  is  not  a  sufficient  amount  of  provision  at 
Butter  Point  for  you. 

"(5)  He  Butter  Point.  I  will  have  a  depot  of  at 
least  fourteen  days'  food  and  oil  cached  there  for  you. 
If  there  is  not  enough  in  that  supply  you  ought  to  return 
as  mentioned  in  paragraph  (4). 

"(6)  I  shall  leave  instructions  for  the  master  of  the 
Nimrod  to  proceed  to  the  most  accessible  point  at  the 

74 


PLAN  OF   JOURNEY 

west  coast  and  there  ship  all  your  specimens.  But 
before  doing  this,  he  must  ship  all  the  stores  that  are 
lying  at  winter  quarters,  and  also  keep  in  touch  with  the 
fast  ice  to  the  south  on  the  look-out  for  the  Southern 
Sledge-party.  The  Southern  Party  will  not  be  expected 
before  Febniary  1,  so  if  the  ship  arrives  in  good  time 
you  may  have  all  your  work  done  before  our  arrival  from 
the  south. 

"  (7)  If  by  February  1  after  the  arrival  of  the  Xiinrod, 
there  is  no  evidence  that  your  jiarty  has  returned,  the 
Nimrod  auU  proceed  north  along  the  coast,  keeping  as 
close  to  the  land  as  possible,  on  the  look-out  for  a  signal 
from  you  flashed  by  heliograph.  The  vessel  will  proceed 
very  slowly.  The  ship  will  not  go  north  of  Cape  Wash- 
ington. This  is  a  safeguard  in  event  of  any  accident 
occurring  to  your  party. 

"(8)  I  have  acquainted  both  Mawson  and  Mackay 
with  the  main  facts  of  the  proposed  journey.  In  the 
event  of  any  accident  happening  to  you,  INIawson  is  to 
be  in  charge  of  the  partj-. 

"  (9)  Trusting  that  you  will  hav^e  a  successful  journey 
and  a  safe  return. 

"  I  am  yours  faithfully, 

"(Sgd.)  Erxest  H.  Shackletox, 

"  Commander." 
"  Professor  David, 
"  Cape  Royds, 
"  Antarctic." 

"  Cape  Royds, 
"  British  Antarctic  Expedition,  1907. 

"  Professor  David. 

"  Dear  Sir, — If  you  reach  the  [Magnetic  Pole,  you 
will  hoist  the  Union  Jack  on  the  spot,  and  take  possession 
of  it  on  behalf  of  the  above  expedition  for  the  British 
nation. 

75 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

"  When  you  are  in  the  Western  IVIountains,  please  do 
the  same  at  one  place,  taking  possession  of  Victoria  Land 
as  part  of  the  British  Empire. 

"  If  economic  minerals  are  found,  take  possession  of 
the  area  in  the  same  way  on  my  behalf  as  Commander  of 
this  expedition. 

"  Yours  faithfully, 

"(Sgd.)   EuxKST  H.  Shackleton, 

"  Commander." 

We  had  a  farewell  dinner  that  night,  given  in  honour 
of  the  Southern  Depot  Party  who  were  about  to  start 
to  lay  out  a  depot  one  hundred  miles  southerly  from 
our  winter  quarters. 

The  following  day,  September  20,  a  strong  south- 
easterly blizzard  was  blo\\ing.  In  the  afternoon  the  wind 
somewhat  moderated,  and  there  was  less  drift.  Mackay 
had  been  making  a  sail  for  our  journey  to  the  INIagnetic 
Pole,  and  we  now  tried  the  sail  on  two  sledges  lashed 
together  on  the  ice  at  Backdoor  Bay.  We  used  the 
tent  poles  of  one  of  the  sledging-tents  as  a  mast.  The 
A^^nd  was  blo^ving  very  strongly  and  carried  off  the  two 
sledges  with  a  weight  on  them  of  300  lb.,  in  addition 
to  the  weights  of  JNIackay  and  myself,  who  were  sit- 
ting on  the  sledges.  We  considered  this  a  successful 
experiment. 

The  weather  continued  bad  till  the  night  of  the  2-tth. 

On  September  25  we  were  up  at  5.30  a.m.,  and  found 
that  the  blizzard  had  subsided.  Priestley,  Day  and  I 
started  in  the  motor-car,  dragging  behind  us  two 
sledges  over  the  sea  ice.  One  sledge,  weighing  alto- 
gether 606  lb.  with  its  load,  contained  five  of  our  fort- 
nightly food-bags,  six  large  tins  of  biscuits,  and  60  lb, 
of  oil.     The  other  sledge,  which  with  its  load  weighed 

76 


PRELIMINARY  WORK 

about  250  lb.,  carried  personal  gear  wliich  we  might 
have  to  use  on  the  dejiot  laj-ing  trip  in  the  event  of 
being  surprised  by  a  blizzard.  At  first  Day  travelled 
on  his  first  gear;  he  then  found  that  the  engine  became 
heated,  and  we  had  to  stop  for  it  to  cool  down.  He 
discovered  while  we  were  waiting  that  one  of  the  cylinders 
was  not  firing.  This  he  soon  fixed  up  all  right.  He 
then  remounted  the  car  and  he  put  her  on  to  the 
second  gear.  With  the  increased  power  given  by  the 
repaired  cylinder  we  now  sped  over  the  floe-ice  at 
fourteen  miles  an  hour,  much  to  the  admiration  of  the 
seals  and  penguins.  When,  however,  we  had  travelled 
about  ten  miles  from  winter  quarters,  and  were  some 
five  miles  westerly  from  Tent  Island,  we  encountered 
numerous  sastrugi  of  softish  snow,  the  car  continually 
sticking  fast  in  the  ridges.  A  little  low  drift  was 
flying  over  the  ice  surface,  brought  up  by  a  gentle 
blizzard.  We  left  the  heavy  sledge  ten  miles  out,  and 
then  wth  only  the  light  sledge  to  draw  behind  us,  Day 
found  that  he  was  able  to  travel  on  Iiis  third  gear  at 
eighteen  miles  an  hour.  At  this  speed  the  sledge, 
whenever  it  took  one  of  the  snow  sastrugi  at  right  angles, 
leapt  into  the  air  like  a  flying  fish  and  came  down  \vith 
a  bmnp  on  the  surface  of  the  ice.  As  we  had  occasionally 
to  make  sharp  turns  in  order  to  avoid  sastrugi  and 
lumps  of  ice,  our  sledge  had  one  or  two  capsizes.  JMean- 
while,  the  blizzard  was  freshening,  and  we  tore  along 
in  hopes  of  reaching  our  %\inter  quarters  before  it 
became  verj^  violent.  We  had  just  reached  Flagstaff 
Point,  and  were  taking  a  turn  in  towards  the  shore 
opposite  the  penguin  rookery  when  the  blizzard  wind 
caught  the  side  of  the  sledge  nearly  broadside  on,  and 
capsized  it  heavily.  So  violent  was  the  shock  that  the 
aluminium    cooking    apparatus    was    knocked    out    of 

77 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

its  straps,  and  the  blizzard  wind  immediately  started 
trundling  this  metal  cylinder  over  the  smooth  ice.  Day 
stopped  his  car  as  soon  as  possible,  Priestley  and  I 
jumped  off,  and  immediately  gave  chase  to  the  runaway 
cooker.  IMeanwhile,  the  cooker  had  fallen  to  pieces 
so  to  speak;  the  tray  part  came  away  from  the  big 
circular  cover;  the  melter  and  the  supports  for  the 
cooking-pot  and  for  the  main  outer  covering  also  came 
adrift  as  well  as  the  cooking-pot  itself.  The  lid  of  the 
last-mentioned  fell  off,  and  immediately  dumped  on  to 
the  ice  the  three  pannikins  and  our  three  spoons.  These 
articles  raced  one  another  over  the  smooth  ice-surface  in 
the  direction  of  the  open  water  of  Ross  Sea.  The  spoons 
were  easily  captured,  as  also  were  the  pannikins,  which, 
being  conical  in  shape,  could  not  be  bowled  by  the  wnd 
in  a  straight  line,  but  described  arcs  of  circles.  Priestley 
and  I  recovered  also  the  cooking-pot,  and  with  Brockle- 
hurst's  help  (for  he  had  run  down  to  meet  us)  the 
aluminium  supports,  but  the  large  snow  melter,  the 
main  outer  casing,  and  the  tray  kept  revolving  in  front 
of  us  at  a  speed  which  was  just  sufficient  to  outclass 
our  own  most  desperate  efforts.  Finally,  when  we 
were  nearly  upon  them,  they  took  a  joyous  leap  over 
the  low  cliff  of  floe-ice  and  disappeared  one  after 
another  most  exasperatingly  in  the  black  waters  of 
the  Ross  Sea. 

This  was  a  shrewd  loss,  as  aluminium  cookers  were, 
of  course,  very  scarce.  Priestley  and  I  returned  dis- 
consolate, and  very  much  winded  after  our  mile's  run  in 
vain. 

The  following  day  we  had  intended  laying  out  our 
second  depot,  but  as  some  of  the  piston  rings  of  the 
motor-car  needed  repair,  we  decided  to  postpone  the 
departure  until  the  day   after.     That   afternoon,   after 

78 


ACCIDENT  TO  DAY 

the  repaii's  had  been  completed,  Day  and  Armytage 
went  out  for  a  httle  tobogganing  before  dhiner.  Late  in 
the  evening  Armytage  returned  dragging  slowly  and 
painfully  a  sledge  bearing  the  recumbent,  though  not 
inanimate  form  of  Day.  We  crowded  round  to  inquire 
what  was  the  matter,  and  found  that  just  when  Armytage 
and  Day  were  urging  their  wild  career  down  a  steep 
snow  slope  Day's  foot  had  stinick  an  unyielding  block  of 
kenyte  lava,  and  the  consequence  had  been  very  awkward 
for  the  foot.  It  was  severely  staved,  so  that  he  was  quite 
unable  to  walk  without  assistance.  As  no  one  but  Day 
could  be  trusted  to  drive  the  motor-car,  this  accident 
necessitated  a  further  postponement  of  the  laying  of  our 
second  depot. 

On  September  28  it  was  blowing.  On  the  29th  the 
day  was  fairly  fine,  but  Day's  foot  was  not  well  enough 
for  him  to  start  in  the  motor-car. 

On  September  30  a  mild  blizzard  commenced  blowing, 
and  on  October  1,  the  day  on  which  Lieutenant  Shackle- 
ton  had  intended  that  we  should  start,  it  was  still 
raging  with  increased  force.  That  day  was  spent 
chiefly  in  nailing  strips  of  tin,  painted  blue,  on  all 
the  geological  specimen  boxes,  and  double-labelling 
them. 

On  October  2  the  weather  was  still  bad,  so  that  we 
were  unable  to  start.  On  October  3,  the  weather  having 
cleared.  Day,  Priestley,  Mackay  and  I  started  with  two 
sledges  to  lay  our  second  depot.  All  went  well  for 
about  eight  miles  out,  then  the  carburetter  played  up. 
Possibly  there  was  some  dirt  in  the  nozzle.  Day  took 
it  all  to  pieces  in  the  cold  wind,  and  spent  three-quarters 
of  an  hour  in  fixing  it  up.  We  then  started  off  again 
gaily  in  good  style.  We  crossed  a  large  crack  in  the 
sea  ice  where  there  were  numbers  of  seals  and  Emperor 

79 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

penguins.  On  the  other  side  of  this  crack  our  wheels 
stuck  fast  in  snow  sastrugi.  All  hands  got  on  to  the 
spokes  and  started  swinging  the  car  backwards  and 
forwards;  when  we  got  a  good  swing  on,  Day  would 
suddenly  snatch  on  the  power  and  over  we  would  go — ■ 
that  is,  over  one  of  the  sastnigi — only  to  find,  often, 
that  we  had  just  floundered  into  another  one  ahead. 
In  performing  one  of  these  evolutions  Priestley,  who  as 
usual,  was  working  like  a  Trojan,  got  his  hand  rather 
badly  damaged  tlu-ough  its  being  jammed  between  the 
spokes  of  the  car  wheel  and  the  framework.  Almost 
immediately  afterwards  one  of  my  fingers  was  nearly 
broken,  through  the  same  cause,  the  flesh  being  torn  off 
one  of  my  knuckles;  and  then  Mackay  seriously 
damaged  his  wrist  in  manipulating  what  Joyce  called 
the  "  thumb-breaking  "  starter.  Still  we  went  flounder- 
ing along  over  the  sastinjgi  and  ice  cracks,  Day  every 
now  and  then  getting  out  to  lighten  the  car  and  limping 
alongside.  At  last  we  succeeded  in  reaching  a  spot 
amongst  tlie  snow  sastrugi  on  the  sea  ice,  fifteen  miles 
distant  from  our  winter  quarters.  Here  we  dumped  the 
load  intended  for  the  Northern  Party,  and  then  Day  had 
a  hard  struggle  to  extricate  the  car  from  the  tangle  of 
sastrugi  and  ice-cracks.  At  last,  after  two  capsizes 
of  the  sledges,  we  got  back  into  camp  at  10  p.m., 
all  thoroughly  exhausted,  all  wounded  and  bandaged. 
Brocklehurst  carried  Day  on  his  back  for  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  where  we  left  the  car  up  to  our 
winter  quarters.  So  thoroughly  exhausted  were  we,  that 
we  had  to  take  a  day's  rest  on  October  4,  before  making 
our  final  start. 

The  following  are  the  details  respectivel)'  of  our 
permanent  load  and  equipment  and  of  our  consumable 
load  (food  and  oil)  when  we  did  eventually  start: 

80 


TiiK  Ptaut  of  .V  Blizzard  from  tiik  Sol  rii;    Drift  cu.mixl;   rui  nd  Mount  Kuebcj 


NORTHERN   PARTY'S   EQUIPMENT 


1 


^ 


Northern  Party's  Permanent  Load 


2  11 -ft.  sledges 
Tent,  poles  and  floorcloth 
Shovel 

Primus  and  cooker 
Three-man  sleeping  bag 

3  dozen  plates    . 
I4"plate  camera  and  case 
Legs  of  camera 
Lloyd  Creak  dip  circle 
Legs   for   dip   circle 
Spirit  for  Primus  stove 

1  ready  bottle  for  spirit 
Sail  and  yard 
Venesta  board  for  table 
Centimetre  rule 
Horn  protractor 
Pencils 
"  Hints  to  Travellers  "  and 

Nautical   Almanac 
3-inch,  theodolite  and  case 
Legs  of  theodolite 
Field-glasses        .... 
3  ice  axes,  3  lb.  each 
Riicksack  and  60  ft.  Alpine  rope 
Haversack,  hammer  and  chisel 
Aneroid  ) 

2  prismatic  compasses  j 
2  pairs  of  sledge  thermometers  in  cases 
2  low-temperature  thermometers 
1   hypsometer  in  case 
Labels  and  small  bags  for  specimens 
Repair   kit  ..... 

Copper   wire        ..... 

Cod-line       ...... 

Leather  for  repairs 

1  pair  shooting-boots  for  depot  at  Butter  Point 

1  pair  ski-boots   (Mawson) 

1  pair  ski-boots  (David) 

Vol.  n.-6  8X 


Wei 

ght. 

Lb. 

Oz. 

120 

0 

30 

0 

6 

0 

20 

0 

26 

0 

3 

0 

4 

13 

1 

U 

23 

0 

7 

0 

9 

0 

0 

8 

11 

0 

1      10 


9 

0 

5 

4 

1 

13 

9 

0 

6 

0 

3 

0 

0      12 


1 

0 

1 

0 

2 

0 

0 

4 

1 

0 

2 

0 

3 

8 

2 

8 

2 

8 

THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 


3  pairs  ski-boots 

9  pairs  finnesko,  2^/4  lb.  each 

Charts  and  tin  case     . 

Dram  case  of  paper     . 

30  lb.  of  personal  gear  ) 

6  lb.  of  bags.  j  " 

Prickers,  nipples,  and  washers  for  Pr 

3  hanks  sennegrass 

3  bags  for  drying  sennegrass 

Medical    bag        .... 

Depot  flags,  jack,  and  poles 

Sledge  harness. 

Sledge  ropes  and  toggles. 

Small  set  of  tools. 

Books  : 

Field  note-books. 

"  Magnetic  Memoir  of  Discovery  Expedition." 

Sketch-book. 

Northern  Party's  Consumable  Load 


Wei 

gilt. 

Lb. 

Oz. 

12 

0 

20 

4 

1 

0 

1 

0 

36 

0 

0 

8 

i 

8 

0 

8 

5 

0 

4 

0 

Lb.     Oz. 


Plasmon  biscuit :    1  lb.  per  man  per  day  ^=  3  lb.  per  day. 
93  days   X   3  =  279  lb. 
Substitute   for  oatmeal,    1    lb.    3   oz.    for   3   men  per 

week  X    13  =  14  lb.   10  oz 

Pemmican:    7.5  oz.  per  man  per  day  X  3  X  93  =  2092 
oz.        .........  . 

Emergency  rations  (checked  by  Marshall):    li/o  oz.  per 
man  per  day  X  3   X  93  =  4181^  oz.  .  .  .  ^ 

Sugar  (lumps)  :  3.8  oz.  per  man  per  day  X  3  X  93  .  = 
Tea  (twice  a  daj-)  :  a  little  less  than  half  a  tin  per  week  == 
Rowntree's  Sweet  Chocolate: 

8       oz.  per  man  per  week  =  normal  allowance. 
4I4    "  do.  :^  substitute    for   honey. 


=:  294       0 


=  131 


26 

0 

70 

0 

9 

0 

121/2  oz.  do. 

121/2   X  3  X   13     =  487  oz 

Cocoa:    14I/2  oz.  for  three  men  per  week  (once  a  day  for 

dinner).     141/2  X  IS  =  188  oz 

Out  of  this  plasmon  cocoa  available  for  6  weeks. 

82 


32        0 
12       0 


A  BLIZZARD  ON  THE  HARRIER 


■ 

^^^^B^R^ffll^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^l 

^M 

r 

1 

1 

^^S^^H 

^ 

0-  : 

THE  START 

Weight. 
Lb.  Oz. 
Cheese:  2  oz.  per  man  per  day,  3  days  per  week  = 

18  oz.  per  week.     18  oz.  X  13    =  239    oz.         .         .=     150 
Plasmon  and  dried  milk  .         .  .  .  .         .  ^     17       7 

Salt:   2  oz.  per  week  for  2  men  =  4  oz.  per  week  X   13 

=  52  oz =        3        .t 

Paraffin  oil  in  10-lb.  tins =  100       0 


709     lb. 


October  4  was  a  Sunday,  and  after  the  morning  service 
we  took  the  ponies  out  for  exercise.  In  tlie  evening  the 
gramoj^hone  discoursed  apjiroj^riate  music,  such  as  "  We 
parted  on  the  Shore,"  "  I  and  my  true  love  will  never  meet 
again  by  the  bonnie,  bonnie  banks  of  Loch  Lomond," 
concluding  with  the  universal  favourite,  "  Lead,  Kindly 
Light." 

IMeanwhile,  JSIackay  had  liis  damaged  wrist  attended 
to,  and  I  put  the  question  to  him  as  to  whether  or  not 
he  was  i^repared  to  undertake  the  long  journey  to  the 
Magnetic  Pole  under  the  circumstances.  He  said  that 
he  was  quite  ready,  provided  INIawson  and  I  did  not 
object  to  his  going  with  his  wrist  damaged  and  in  a 
sling.  We  raised  no  objection,  and  so  the  matter  was 
settled.  All  that  night  JMawson  and  I  were  occupied  in 
AVTiting  final  letters,  and  i^acking  little  odds  and  ends. 

The  following  morning,  October  5,  after  an  early 
breakfast,  we  prepared  for  the  final  start.  It  was 
quite  wonderful  what  a  lot  of  things  had  been  forgotten 
until  this  last  moment.  The  sledges  were  dragged 
down,  from  our  hut  to  the  edge  of  the  sea  ice  at  the 
Penguin  Rookery,  a  distance  of  a  little  over  a  quarter  of 
a  mile.  Day  was  there  with  the  motor-car,  ready 
for  the  start.  Every  now  and  then  some  one  of  the 
pilgrims  Avould  remember  that  he  had  left  something 
very  important  behind  at  the  hut,  and  would  go  running 

83 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

back  for  it.  These  odd  belongings  had  to  be  tied  with 
bits  of  string  on  to  the  second  sledge  which  we  were 
going  to  take  with  us  on  our  northern  jomney,  con- 
sequently, by  degrees,  this  sledge  became  hung  over 
with  boots,  crampons,  and  all  sorts  of  what  Day  called 
"  gagdets."  ^Murray,  Brocklehurst  and  Amiytage  came 
down  on  the  ice  to  bid  us  a  final  farewell.  Brocklehurst 
took  a  photograph  of  us  just  before  we  started, 
then  Day,  Priestley,  Roberts,  Mackay,  Mawson  and  I 
got  aboard,  some  on  the  motor-car,  some  on  the  sledges. 
Those  remaining  behind  gave  us  three  cheers,  Day  turned 
on  the  power  and  away  we  went.  A  light  wind  was 
blowing  from  the  south-east  at  the  time  of  our  start, 
bringing  a  little  snow  with  it  and  another  blizzard 
seemed  impending. 

After  travelling  a  little  over  two  miles,  just 
beyond  Cape  Bame,  the  snow  had  become  so 
thick  that  the  coast-line  was  almost  entirely  hidden 
from  our  view.  Under  these  circumstances  I  did  not 
tliink  it  prudent  to  take  the  motor-car  further,  so 
[Mackay,  I\Iawson  and  I  bid  adieu  to  our  good  friends. 
Strapping  on  our  harness  we  toggled  on  to  the  sledge 
rope,  and  with  a  one,  two,  three,  and  away,  pulled  off 
into  the  thick  falling  snow,  which  in  a  few  minutes 
blotted  out  all  view  of  the  motor-car  in  our  rear. 
As  we  slowly  trudged  along  the  signs  of  an  approaching 
blizzard  became  more  pronounced  and  we  bore  somewhat 
to  our  left  so  as  to  have  Inaccessible  Island  as  a  lee  under 
which  to  run  for  shelter,  but  after  a  time,  as  the  threat- 
ened blizzard  did  not  come  up,  we  slewed  our  sledge  more 
to  the  right,  away  from  Inaccessible  Island,  heading  up 
for  our  ten-mile  depot.  At  last,  towards  evening  ^lackay 
sighted  the  black  flag  over  the  depot  about  a  mile 
distant. 

We  reached  the  depot  about  7  p.m.  and  got  up  our 

84 


RELAY  WORK 

tent.  A  fairly  strong  wind  was  still  blowing  from  the 
south-east,  raising  low  drift.  We  slept  that  night  on  the 
floe-ice,  with  about  three  hundred  fathoms  of  water  under 
our  pillow. 

The  following  morning,  October  6,  we  started  our 
relay  work.  We  dragged  the  Cliristmas  Tree  sledge 
on  first,  as  we  were  specially  liable  to  lose  parcels  off  it, 
for  a  distance  of  from  one-third  to  half  a  mile.  Then 
we  returned  and  fetched  up  what  we  called  the  Plum 
Duff  sledge,  chiefly  laden  with  our  provisions.  The 
light  was  dull,  and  a  certain  amount  of  soft,  newly-fallen 
snow  made  the  sledging  heavy.  The  weather  may  be 
described  as  thick,  with  snow  falhng  at  intervals. 
During  the  afternoon  it  cleai'ed  somewhat  and  the 
Western  jNIountains  came  into  view  at  about  2  p.m. 
This  was  fortunate  for  us,  as  it  enabled  us  later  on 
to  sight  the  flag  over  our  fifteen-mile  depot.  We  camped 
that  night  amongst  screw  pack-ice  within  less  than  a  mile 
of  this  depot. 

The  following  day,  October  7,  was  beautifully  fine 
and  cakn.  We  started  about  9  a.m.  and  sledged  over 
pressure  ice  ridges  and  snow  sastrugi,  reaching  our 
fifteen-mile  dejiot  in  three-quarters  of  an  hour.  Here 
we  camped  and  repacked  our  sledges.  We  took  the  whole- 
meal plasmon  biscuits  out  of  two  of  the  biscuit  tins  and 
packed  them  into  canvas  bags.  This  saved  us  a  weight 
of  about  8  lb. 

We  started  again  in  the  afternoon,  relaying  with  the 
two  sledges.  The  sledging  again  was  heavy  on  account 
of  the  fresh,  soft  snow,  and  small  sastrugi.  We  had  a 
glorious  view  of  the  AVestern  IMountains,  crimsoned  in  the 
light  of  the  setting  sun.  We  camped  that  night  close 
to  a  seal  hole  wliich  belonged  to  a  fine  specimen  of 
Weddell  seal.  We  were  somewhat  disturbed  that  night 
by  the  snorting  and  wliisthng  of  the  seals  as  they  came 

85 


THE  HEART   OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

up  for  their  blows.  Evidently  this  seal  hole  was  a 
syndicate  ali'air.  The  sounds  at  times  seemed  right  under 
our  tent. 

October  8  was  a  fine,  clear  day,  with  a  beautiful 
sunset,  and  a  magniiicent  mirage,  in  the  direction  of 
Beaufort  Island.  To  the  north  of  us,  the  curious  hills, 
called  by  Captain  Scott  the  "  Stranded  IMoraiiies,"  were 
now  beginning  to  show  out  very  plainly  in  the  direction 
in  which  we  were  travelling. 

On  the  morning  of  October  9  we  got  under  way  soon 
after  eight  o'clock.  It  was  a  lovely,  calm  day  but  cold, 
tlie  thermometer  registering  30  Fahr.  at  8  p.m.  The 
surface  was  fairly  good  for  sledging,  but  in  places 
we  came  on  patches  of  soft  snow,  and  a  small,  lumpy 
structure  of  the  ice-surface,  resembling  a  newly  raked 
garden  bed,  evidently  due  to  the  thawirig  down  and 
refreezing  of  "  ice  flowers."  This  made  travelling  very 
heavy.  The  "  Stranded  jMoraines  "  now  showed  up  very 
clearly,  and  Butter  I'oint  itself  became  visible. 

The  following  day,  Saturday,  October  10,  we  were 
awakened  by  the  chatter  of  some  Emperor  penguins 
who  had  marched  down  on  our  tent  during  the  night 
to  investigate  us.  The  sounds  may  be  described  as 
something  between  the  cackle  of  a  goose  and  the  chortle 
of  a  kookaburra.  On  peeping  out  of  the  Burberry 
spout  of  our  tent  I  saw  four  standing  by  the  sledges. 
They  were  much  interested  at  the  sight  of  me,  and  the 
conversation  between  them  became  lively.  They 
evidently  took  us  for  jjenguins  of  an  inferior  type, 
and  the  tent  for  our  nest.  They  watched,  and  took 
careful  note  of  all  our  doings,  and  gave  us  a  good  send- 
off  when  we  started  about  8.30  a.m. 

On  our  journey  that  morning  we  passed  close  by  a 
large  bull  seal  of  the  Weddell  species.  A  little  further 
on  we  noticed  a  curious  dark  object  on  the  ice  in  the 

86 


MaRSTOX    ANI'     MtrhVY    at    THi:    DOOH    OI     THE    JiUT 


Daisy's  Third  Litter  at  the  Winter  tiuARTERS 


A  BLIZZARD 

distance,  and  on  coming  up  to  it  found  that  it  was  a  dead 
Weddell  seal  with  its  head,  neck,  and  shoulders  firmly 
frozen  into  the  ice.  Evidently  it  had  stuck  fast  in  a 
seal  hole  in  the  ice  in  trying  to  get  do'vvTi  to  the  sea-water. 

The  sky  was  overcast,  and  light  snow  began  to  fall 
in  the  afternoon.  A  httle  later  a  mild  blizzard  sprang 
up  from  the  south-east;  we  thought  this  a  favourable 
opportunity  for  testing  the  sailing  qualities  of  our 
sledges,  and  so  made  sail  on  the  Plum  Duff  sledge. 
As  Mackay  put  it,  we  "  brought  her  to  try  with  main 
course."  As  the  strength  of  the  blizzard  increased,  we 
found  that  we  could  draw  both  sledges  simultaneously, 
which  was,  of  course,  a  great  saving  in  labour.  We 
were  tempted  to  carry  on  in  the  increasing  strength 
of  the  blizzard  rather  longer  than  was  wise,  and  con- 
sequently, when  at  last  we  decided  that  we  must  camp, 
had  great  difficulty  in  getting  the  tent  up.  We  slipped 
the  tent  over  the  poles  placed  close  to  the  ground  in  the 
lee  of  a  sledge.  While  two  of  us  raised  the  poles,  the 
third  shovelled  snow  on  to  the  skirt  of  the  tent,  which  we 
pulled  out  little  by  little,  until  it  was  finally  spread  to  its 
full  dimensions.  We  were  glad  to  turn  in  and  escape 
from  the  biting  blast  and  drifting  snow. 

The  following  day,  Sunday,  October  11,  a  violent 
blizzard  was  still  blowing,  and  we  lay  in  our  sleeping- 
bag  until  past  noon,  by  Avhich  time  the  snow  had  drifted 
high  upon  the  door  side  of  our  tent.  As  this  drift  was 
pressing  heavily  on  our  feet  and  cramping  us,  I  got  up 
and  dug  it  away.  The  cooker  and  Primus  were  then 
brought  in  and  Ave  all  got  up  and  had  some  hoosh  and 
tea.  The  temperature,  as  usually  happens  in  a  blizzard, 
had  now  risen  considerably,  being  8.5°  Fahr.  at  1.30  p.m. 
The  copper  wire  on  our  sledges  was  polished  and 
burnished  by  the  prolonged  blast  against  it  of  tiny 
ice  crystals,  and  the  surface  of  the  sea  ice  was  also 

87 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

brightly  polished  in  places.  As  it  was  still  blowing  we 
remained  in  our  sleeping-bag  for  the  rest  of  that  day 
as  well  as  the  succeeding  night. 

When  we  rose  at  about  2  a.m.  on  ^Monday,  October 
12,  the  blizzard  was  over.  We  found  very  heavy  snow- 
drifts on  the  lee  side  of  our  sledges,  and  it  took  us  a 
considerable  time  to  dig  these  away  and  get  the  hard 
snow  raked  out  of  all  the  chinks  and  crannies  among 
the  packages  on  the  sledges.  We  made  a  start  about 
4  A.M.,  and  all  that  day  meandered  amongst  broken 
pack-ice.  It  was  evident  that  the  south-east  blizzards 
drive  large  belts  of  broken  tioe-ice  in  this  direction  across 
McjNlurdo  Sound  to  the  western  shore.  The  fractured 
masses  of  sea  ice,  inclined  at  all  angles  to  the  horizontal, 
are  frozen  in  later,  as  the  cold  of  winter  becomes  more 
intense,  and  of  course,  constitute  a  very  difficult  surface 
for  sledging. 

In  order  to  make  up  for  the  time  we  had  lost  in  our 
sleeping-bags  during  the  bhzzard,  we  travelled  altogether 
fourteen  hours,  and  succeeded  in  doing  about  six 
statute  miles,  that  is,  eighteen  miles  of  relay  work,  and 
all  felt  much  exhausted  when  we  turned  in  that  evening. 
As  a  result  of  this  we  did  not  wake  until  after  8  a.m 
next  morning. 

^Ve  were  now  only  about  two  miles  from  Butter 
Point.  We  got  under  way  at  10  a.m.,  and  a  few  hours 
later  camped  at  the  foot  of  a  low  ice  cliff,  about  600  yards 
south-south-east  of  Butter  Point.  Butter  Point  is 
merely  an  angle  in  this  low  ice  cliff  near  the  junction  of 
the  Ferrar  Glacier  valley  with  the  main  shore  of  ^'ictoria 
Land.  This  cliff  was  from  fifteen  to  twenty  feet  in 
height,  and  formed  of  crevassed  glacier  ice.  It  was 
covered  by  a  hard  snow  crust,  which  everj'  now  and 
then  gave  away  and  let  one  down  for  a  foot  or  so.  This 
glacier  ice  was  not  part  of  the  main  Ferrar  Glacier,  but 

88 


DEPOT  AT  BUTTER  POINT 

appeared  to  be  simply  a  local  piedmont  glacier  stretcliing 
along  for  some  considerable  distance  between  the  base 
of  the  coast  range  and  the  sea  ice,  past  the  "  Stranded 
JNIoraines,"  until  still  further  south  it  became  confluent 
with  that  ]Mr.  H.  G.  Ferrar  has  described  as  the  "  pin- 
nacled ice."  It  was  evident  that  this  piedmont  ice 
was  firmly  attached  to  the  land,  as  it  was  separated  from 
the  sea  ice,  by  a  well-marked  tide-crack.  With  the  help 
of  our  ice  axes  we  crossed  over  this  crack  and  got  up  the 
httle  ice  cliff  on  to  the  glacier  ice,  and  selected  there  a 
suitable  spot  for  our  depot. 

According  to  arrangements  with  Lieutenant  Shackle- 
ton  we  were  to  leave  a  depot  flag  at  Butter  Point  with 
a  letter  giving  an  account  of  our  doings,  and  stating 
approximately  by  what  date  we  hojjed  to  return  there. 
But  the  progress  of  our  journey  had  been  so  much 
slower  than  we  had  originally  anticipated  that  we 
decided  before  reaching  Butter  Point  that  it  would  be 
imperatively  necessary,  m  order  to  make  the  INIagnetic 
Pole  in  the  time  available,  to  lighten  the  load  on  our 
sledges  by  leaving  a  portion  of  our  equipment  and 
food. 

During  the  latter  part  of  this  day  Mawson  and  Mackay 
were  busy  making  a  mast  and  boom  for  the  second 
sledge,  it  being  our  intention  to  use  the  tent  floorcloth  as 
a  sail.  JNIeanwhile  I  sorted  out  the  material  to  be  left  at 
the  depot. 

The  following  day,  Wednesday,  October  14,  we 
spent  the  morning  in  resorting  the  loads  on  our  sledges. 
We  depoted  two  tins  of  wholemeal  plasmon  biscuits, 
each  weighing  about  27  lb.,  also  !Mackay's  mountaineer- 
ing nail  boots,  and  my  spare  head-gear  material  and  mits. 
Altogether  we  lightened  the  load  by  about  70  lb.  We 
sunk  the  two  full  tins  of  biscuits  and  a  tin  containing 
boots,  &c.,  a  short  distance  in  the  glacier  ice  to  prevent 

89 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

the  blizzards  blowing  them  away.  We  then  lashed 
to  the  tins  a  short  bamboo  Hag-pole,  carrying  one  of  our 
black  depot  flags,  and  securely  fastened  to  its  base  one 
of  our  empty  air-tight  milk  tins,  in  which  we  ])laced  our 
letters.  In  these  letters  for  Lieutenant  Shacklcton 
and  R.  E.  Priestley,  respectively,  I  stated  that  in 
consequence  of  our  late  start  from  Cape  Royds,  and 
also  on  account  of  the  comj^arative  slowness  of  our 
progress  tlience  to  Butter  Point,  it  was  obvious  that 
we  could  not  return  to  Butter  Point  until  January  12, 
at  the  earliest,  instead  of  the  fii-st  week  of  January, 
as  was  originally  anticipated.  We  ascertained  months 
later  that  this  little  depot  survived  the  blizzards, 
and  that  Armytage,  Priestley  and  Brocklehurt  had 
no  difficulty  in  finding  it,  and  that  they  read  our 
letters. 

Leaving  the  depot  about  9  a.m.  on  October  14,  we 
started  sledging  across  New  Harbour  in  the  direction 
of  Cape  Bernacchi.  In  the  afternoon  a  light  southerly 
wind  sprang  up  bringing  a  little  snow  with  it,  the  fall 
lasting  from  about  12.30  to  2.30  p.m.  We  steered  in 
the  direction  of  what  appeared  to  us  to  be  an  uncharted 
island.  On  arri\ing  at  it,  however,  we  discovered  that 
it  was  a  time  iceberg,  formed  of  hard  blue  glacier  ice 
with  a  conspicuous  black  band  near  its  summit  formed 
of  fine  dark  gravel.  The  iceberg  was  about  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  in  length,  and  thirty  to  forty  feet  high.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  coarser  bands  of  gravel  there  was  a  great 
quantity  of  dust,  and  fine  dust  bands,  near  the  surface 
of  the  berg.  Tliis  dust  absorbing  the  heat  of  the  sun 
had  thawed  its  way  deep  down  into  the  berg,  thus  forming 
numerous  dust  wells  and  dust  grooves.  There  were 
several  large  cracks  in  the  sea  ice  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  this  iceberg,  and  having  taken  the  bearing  of 

90 


A  MIRAGE 

the   trend   of   these   by   a   compass   they   helped   us   to 
keep  direction  when  the  air  was  thick  'with  falhng  snow. 

The  following  day,  October  15,  was  beautifully 
fine  and  cahn;  the  sky  was  slightly  cloudy  with  long 
belts  of  cirrus-stratus  and  alto-stratus.  Erebus,  now 
over  fifty  niiles  distant,  was  cloud  capped.  We  had  a 
glorious  view  up  the  magnificent  valley  of  the  Ferrar 
Glacier;  the  spurless  hills  on  either  side  of  the  valley, 
strongl)'  faceted  in  a  direction  parallel  to  each  side 
of  the  valley,  spoke  eloquently  of  intense  abrasive 
glacial  action  in  the  immediate  geological  past.  The 
hills  in  the  foreground,  formed  of  gneissic  granite, 
were  of  a  rich  chocolate  brown  to  warm  sepia  hue,  fading 
in  the  distance  to  exquisite  tints  of  reddish  purple  and 
violet.  Towards  evening  we  had  a  wonderful  vision 
of  several  large  icebergs  close  ahead  of  us;  it  seemed 
as  though  they  were  only  a  mile  or  so  distant,  as  one 
could  see  clearly  the  re-entering  angles  and  bright 
reflected  sides  of  the  bergs  lit  up  in  the  rays  of  the 
setting  sun.  Suddenly,  as  if  by  magic,  they  all  vanished. 
They  had  been  momentarily  conjured  up  to  our  view  by 
a  wonderful  mirage.  In  the  departing  rays  of  the  setting 
sun  Blount  Erebus  and  ]Mount  Bird  glowed  with  a 
glorious  golden  light.  This  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
days  we  exj^erienced  during  the  whole  of  our  journey. 
The  cold  was  now  less  severe  than  it  had  been,  the 
temperature  being  9.5°  Fahr.  at  8  p.m. 


PROFESSOR  DAVID'S  NARRATIVE  {Continued) 

/^X  October  16  we  were  up  at  3.30  a.m.,  and  got  under 
^^  waj'  at  5.30.  A  cold  wind  was  blowing  from  the 
south,  and  after  some  trouble  we  set  sail  on  both 
sledges,  using  the  green  floorcloth  on  the  Christmas 
Tree  sledge,  and  ^Nlackay's  sail  on  the  Plum  UufF  sledge. 
A  short  time  after  we  set  sail  it  fell  nearly  calm;  thick 
clouds  gathered;  a  light  wind  sprang  up  from  the 
south-east,  veering  to  east-north-cast,  then  back  again 
to  south-east  in  the  afternoon.  Fine  snow  fell  for  about 
three  hours,  forming  a  layer  nearly  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in 
tliickness.  Towards  evening  we  reached  one  of  the  bergs 
that  had  been  miraged  up  the  night  before.  It  M'as 
four  hundred  yards  long,  and  eighty  yards  wide,  and 
was  a  true  iceberg  formed  of  glacier  ice;  ]\Iackay, 
Mawson  and  I  explored  this.  Like  the  previous  ice- 
berg its  surface  was  pitted  with  numerous  deep  dust 
wells.  It  was  wonderful  to  see  what  a  very  small 
amount  of  dust  sufficed  to  dig  these  wells  to  a  depth 
of  several  feet.  The  cliif  of  the  berg  which  faced 
towards  the  north-west  was  deeply  grooved,  the  appear- 
ance in  the  distance  reminding  one  of  a  number  of 
large  parallel  stalactites.  Climbing  up  one  of  these 
deep  grooves  I  found  numbers  of  small  angular  rock 
pebbles,  up  to  one  and  a  half  inches  in  diameter,  adher- 
ing to  the  bottom  of  the  groove,  and  it  seemed  as  though 
these  grooves,  like  the  dust  wells,  were  formed  by  the 
warmth  of  these  small  fragments  of  rock  which,  as  the 
process  of  thawing  of  the  ice  cliff  progressed,  gradually 


PANCAKE   ICE 

settled  down  into  long  rows  or  strings  as  they  crept 
gradually  downwards  under  the  influence  of  gravitation 
to  the  level  of  the  sea  ice  below.  As  the  shore  was  high 
and  rocky,  and  seemed  not  more  than  half  a  mile  dis- 
tant, I  went  over  towards  it  after  our  evening  meal.  It 
proved  to  be  somewhat  further  than  it  appeared. 

On  the  way,  for  the  first  time,  I  met  with  a  structure 
in  the  sea  ice  known  as  pancake  ice.  The  surface  of 
the  ice  showed  a  rounded  polygonal  structure  something 
hke  the  tops  of  a  number  of  large  weathered  basaltic 
colimms.  The  edges  of  these  polygons  were  shghtly 
raised,  but  sufficiently  rounded  off  by  thawing  or 
ablation  to  afford  an  easy  surface  for  the  runners  of 
our  sledge.  Later  on,  in  the  autumn  of  the  following 
year,  we  noticed  this  pancake  ice  in  process  of  formation. 
If,  as  was  often  the  case,  there  was  any  wind  when  the 
sea  began  to  freeze  over,  the  water  at  first  commenced 
to  look  soupy;  little  by  little  the  small  ice  particles 
which  caused  this  api^earance  aggregated  and  formed 
mjTiads  of  small  structures  which  may  be  likened 
to  small  open  jam  tarts.  These  would  then  coalesce 
in  groups  at  their  edges  and  form  pancake  ice.  These 
pancakes  were  from  one  foot  up  to  about  three  feet 
in  diameter.  Later,  the  pancakes  would  cohere  and 
so  a  continuous  hard  ice  crust  would  be  formed  over 
the  sea  surface;  later  freezing  simply  had  the  effect 
of  strengthening  and  tWckening  this  ice-sheet  from 
below.  Close  in  shore  the  pancake  ice  was  traversed  by 
deep  tidal  cracks.  After  climbing  over  these  I  reached 
the  shore,  which  was  composed  of  a  well-marked  terrace 
of  coarse  gravel  and  large  and  small  erratic  boulders. 
The  smaller  rock  fragments  were  from  three  to  six  inches 
in  diameter,  the  boulders  being  as  much  as  five  feet 
in  diameter.  The  lower  terrace  was  about  twenty 
yards  wide  and  as  many  feet  in  height  above  the  sea; 

93 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

then  followed  a  belt  of  coarsely  crystalline  white 
marble  traversed  by  bands  of  grey  gneiss  and  blackish 
rock.  Capping  this  belt  of  ancient  crj'stalline  rocks 
was  a  terrace  of  angular  gravel,  from  eighty  to  one 
hundred  feet  above  sea-level,  formed  of  small  rock 
fragments  from  one  to  two  inches  in  diameter.  The 
belts  of  coarse  marble,  gneiss,  &c.,  were  stained  green 
and  reddish  to  ochreous  brown  in  places,  and  appeared 
to  have  been  much  mineralised.  The  whole  area 
seemed  to  promise  well  for  economic  minerals.  One 
curious  boulder  specially  attracted  my  attention;  its 
large  pinkish  crystals  were  peppered  over  with  small 
black  crystals,  the  whole  being  enclosed  in  a  greenish 
black  base.  A  specimen  of  this  boulder  which  we 
brought  back  with  us  will  be  described  in  detail  in  the 
geological  notes. 

On  Saturday,  October  17,  Mawson,  Mackay  and  I 
landed  at  Cape  Bernacchi,  a  little  over  a  mile  north 
of  our  previous  camp.  Here  we  hoisted  the  Union 
Jack  just  before  10  a.m.  and  took  possession  of  Victoria 
Land  for  the  British  Empire.  Cape  Bernacchi  is  a  low 
rocky  promontory,  the  geology  of  which  is  extremely 
interesting.  The  dominant  type  of  rock  is  a  pure  white 
coarsely  crj-stalline  marble;  this  has  been  broken  through 
by  granite  rocks,  the  latter  in  places  containing  small  red 
garnets.  The  marble  or  talc  schist  contains  graphite 
disseminated  through  it  in  small  scales.  A  great  deal 
of  tourmaline  and  epidote  are  developed  in  the  granite  at 
its  point  of  contact  with  the  calcareous  schists.  It 
appeared  that  the  granite  had  intruded  the  black 
tourmaline  rocks. 

After  taking  possession  we  resumed  our  sledging, 
finding  the  surface  of  pancake  ice  very  good.  The  day 
being  calm  and  clear  and  free  from  either  falhng  or 
drifting  snow,  we  were  able,  for  the  first  time,  to  turn 

94 


Moraine  Cone  with  raised  Beach  material.     Mt.  Larsen  on  the  right.     "Backstairs 
Passage"  is  behind  the  Cone 


r 

r 

A 

"I 

HkK^m^  '■  ' 

^ 

One  of  the  Sledges  taken  by  the  Northern  Partt 


A  BABY  SEAL 

our  sleeping-bag  inside  out  and  air  it  in  the  sun.  Pre- 
vious to  this  the  reindeer  fur  inside  the  bag  had  become 
much  encrusted  with  ice,  chiefly  the  result  of  the  freez- 
ing of  our  breath.  Although  the  heat  of  the  sun  was 
insufficient  to  actually  thaw  the  ice  it  evaporated  it  to  a 
considerable  extent,  and  we  found  the  bag  that  night  much 
more  comfortable  to  sleep  in  than  it  had  been  for  many 
nights  previous. 

The  following  day,  one  and  a  quarter  miles  north  of 
our  preceding  camp,  we  reached  an  interesting  rocky 
headland.  Here  we  found  a  mother  seal  \\ith  a  newly 
born  baby  seal,  the  latter  about  three  and  a  half  feet 
in  length.  The  mother  seal  at  short  intervals  made 
a  somid  like  "  Wa-a-a."  After  a  close  inspection  the 
mother  and  baby  were  left  undisturbed,  and  we  turned 
our  attention  to  the  rocks.  These  were  most  interesting, 
bearing  a  general  resemblance  to  those  at  Cape  Bernacchi. 
Some  of  the  quartz  veins  traversing  this  point  JNlawson 
thought  very  favourable  for  gold. 

When  we  left  this  point  the  wind  had  considerably 
freshened.  We  had  previously  hoisted  sail  on  both 
sledges,  and  the  wind  was  now  sufFciently  strong  to 
admit  of  our  pulling  both  sledges  together.  The  total 
distance  travelled  was  seven  statute  miles.  This  was 
the  most  favourable  wind  we  exjierienced  during 
the  whole  of  our  journey  to  and  from  the  Magnetic 
Pole. 

Shortly  after  leaving  Baby  Seal  Point  we  encoun- 
tered heavy  belts  of  screw  pack-ice  with  liigh  sastrugi 
between.  The  Christmas  Tree  sledge  capsized  badly 
when  being  dragged  over  one  of  these  high  snow  ridges. 
We  were  much  exhausted  when  we  camped  that  night 
and  had  suffered  somewhat  from  the  cold  wind,  the 
temperature  being  about  10°  Fahr. 

That   night   I   exi^erienced   a   rather  bad   attack   of 

95 


THE   HEART  OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

snow-blindiiess,  through  neglecting  to  wear  my  snow 
goggles  regularly.  Finding  that  my  eyes  were  no 
better  next  morning,  and  my  sight  being  dim,  1  asked 
JVIawson  to  take  my  place  at  the  end  of  the  long  rope, 
the  foremost  position  in  the  team.  Mawson  proved 
himself  on  this  occasion  and  afterwards  so  remarkably 
efficient  at  picking  out  the  best  track  for  our  sledges, 
and  steering  a  good  course  that  by  my  request  he 
occupied  tliis  position  throughout  the  rest  of  the  journey. 

The  next  two  days  were  uneventful,  except  for  the 
fact  that  we  occasionally  had  extremely  hea\'y  sledging 
over  screw  pack-ice  and  high  and  long  sastrugi.  The 
latter  were  from  two  to  three  feet  high,  bounded  fre- 
quently by  almost  perpendicular  sides,  and  as  they 
trended  from  west  to  east  and  our  course  was  from  south 
to  north  they  proved  formidable  obstacles  to  our  progress, 
and  capsizes  of  the  sledges  were  frequent. 

On  the  night  of  October  20,  we  camped  on  the 
sea  ice  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  off  shore.  To 
the  north-east  of  us  was  an  outward  curve  of  the  shore- 
line, shown  as  a  promontory  on  the  existing  chart. 
Early  the  next  morning  I  walked  over  to  the  shore 
to  geologise,  and  found  the  rocky  headland  composed 
of  curious  gneissic  granite  veined  with  quartz.  On 
ascending  this  headland  I  noticed  to  my  surprise  that 
what  had  been  previously  supposed  to  be  a  promontory 
was  really  an  island  separated  by  a  narrow  strait  from 
the  mainland.  It  was  clear  that  by  going  through 
tliis  strait  we  would  save  several  miles.  xVccordingh% 
after  breakfast  we  sledged  into  the  strait.  The  western 
side  of  the  strait  was  formed  of  glacier  ice  terminating 
eastward  in  an  almost  precipitous  slope.  Here  and 
there  masses  of  gneissic  granite  showed  from  beneath 
the  ice.  The  eastern  side  of  the  strait  was  formed  of 
terraced  moraine  gravels  with  large  erratics  embedded 

96 


INTERESTING  FOSSILS 

in  the  gravel  of  the  top  terrace,  eighty  feet  above  sea- 
level. 

While  JNIawson  determined  the  position  of  this 
island  by  taking  a  round  of  angles  with  the  theodohte, 
Mackay  and  I  crossed  the  strait  and  explored  the 
island,  pacing  and  taldng  levels.  The  rocks  of  which 
the  erratics  and  boulder-bearing  gravels  were  formed 
were  almost  without  exception  of  igneous  origin.  One 
very  interesting  exception  was  a  block  of  weathered 
clayey  limestone.  This  was  soft  and  yellowish  grey 
externally  but  hard  and  blue  on  the  freshly  fractured 
surfaces  inside.  It  contained  traces  of  small  fossils 
which  ajipeared  to  be  seeds  of  plants.  Specimens  of 
these  were  taken  by  us  and  were  depoted  later  at  another 
small  island,  which  we  called  Depot  Island.  It  is 
much  to  be  regretted  that  we  were  unable  later  to 
reach  this  depot  on  account  of  dense  belts  of  pack-ice, 
and  so  these  very  interesting  specimens  were  lost.  Two 
cliips,  however,  of  this  rock  were  fortunately  preserved, 
sufficient  for  chemical  analysis  and  microscopic  examina- 
tion. There  could  be  little  doubt  that  this  clayey 
limestone  has  been  derived  from  the  great  sedimentary 
formation,  named  by  H.  T.  Ferrar,  the  Beacon  Sand- 
stone. 

The  island  which  we  had  been  exploring  we  named 
pro\isionally  Terrace  Island.  It  was  approximately 
triangular  in  shape,  and  the  side  facing  the  strait, 
down  which  we  travelled,  measured  one  mile  1200  yards 
in  length. 

The  following  day,  October  22,  we  sighted  the  first 
skua  gull  we  had  seen  that  season.  Snow  fell  in  the 
afternoon  between  2.30  and  5  p.:m.,  forming  a  layer 
tliree-quarters  of  an  inch  deep.  The  temperatin*e  rose 
to  plus  6.5°  Fahr.  at  7  p.m.,  and  a  bhzzard  seemed 
impending. 

Vol.  II.— 7  97 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

The  following  da}%  October  23,  we  held  a  serious 
council  as  to  the  future  of  our  journej'  towards  the 
JMagnetic  Pole,  It  was  quite  ob\'ious  that  at  our  present 
rate  of  travelling,  about  four  statute  miles  daily  by  the 
relay  method,  we  could  not  get  to  the  Pole  and  return 
to  Butter  Point  early  in  January.  I  suggested  that  the 
most  likely  means  of  getting  to  the  Pole  and  back  in  the 
time  specified  by  Lieutenant  Shackleton  would  be  to 
travel  on  half  rations,  depoting  the  remainder  of  our 
provisions  at  an  early  opportunity.  They  both  agreed, 
after  some  discussion,  to  try  tliis  expedient,  and  we 
decided  to  think  the  matter  over  for  a  few  days  and  then 
make  our  depot. 

We  found,  as  the  result  of  the  fall  of  snow  on  the 
preceding  day,  that  the  runners  of  our  sledge  clogged, 
maldng  it  difHcult  to  start  the  sledge  after  each  halt. 
The  temperature  at  5  v.m.  was  now  as  high  as  plus 
5°  Fahr.  There  were  numerous  seals,  mostly  mother  seals 
with  young  ones,  on  the  ice  near  the  course  of  our  sledge, 
as  many  as  seventeen  seals  being  sometimes  visible 
simultaneously. 

The  previous  day  we  had  observed  a  mother  seal 
with  twin  baby  seals.  jNIackay  took  up  one  of  these  in 
his  arms  and  stroked  it  while  it  was  nuzzling  round. 
It  somewhat  resembled  a  large  lizard.  The  mother 
snorted  at  him  indignantly,  meanwhile,  but  made  no 
attempt  to  attack  him. 

We  encountered  some  large  cracks  in  the  sea  ice. 
The  sea  water  between  the  opposite  walls  had  been  only 
recently  frozen  over  so  that  the  ice  was  not  more  than 
a  few  inches  in  thickness.  One  of  these  was  eighteen 
feet  wide,  and  we  found  that  the  ice  bent  under  our 
weight  when  we  tested  it  primarily.  Mackay  called 
it  "  The  Bridge  of  the  Beresina."  We  rushed  the 
sledges  over  at  a  good  speed,  and  although  the  ice  bent 

98 


SEALS  AT   PLAY 

under  their  weight  it  fortunately  held.  At  about  3  p.m. 
the  weather  grew  very  thick  and  it  began  to  snow;  a 
mild  blizzard  developing  later,  we  hoisted  sail  on  both 
sledges. 

The  next  day,  October  24,  we  found  it  very  warm 
in  the  sleeping-bag,  the  sky  being  thickly  overcast 
Avith  dense  stratus  cloud.  A  strong  water  sky  showed 
up  to  the  east  of  us,  while  over  the  mountains  to  the 
west  it  was  moderately  clear.  The  presence  of  this 
water  sky,  indicating  ojjen  sea,  warned  us  that  it  was 
unsafe  to  stand  out  far  from  the  land.  We  reached  that 
evening  a  long  rocky  point  of  gneissic  granite,  which  we 
called  Gneiss  Point.  After  our  evening  hoosh  we  walked 
across  to  the  point  and  collected  a  number  of  interesting 
geological  specimens,  including  blocks  of  kenyte  lava. 

The  following  day,  October  25,  proved  a  very  heavy 
day  for  sledging,  as  we  had  to  drag  the  sledges  over  new 
snow  from  three  to  four  inches  deep.  In  places  it  had 
a  tough  top  crust  wliich  we  would  break  through  up  to 
our  ankles.  We  met  also  several  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  wide  cracks  in  the  sea  ice,  from  six  to  ten  feet  in 
width,  and  several  miles  in  length.  The  sea  water 
between  the  walls  of  the  cracks  had  only  recently  been 
frozen  over,  so  that  the  ice  was  only  just  thick  enough 
to  bear  the  sledges.  The  vicinity  of  these  great  ice- 
cracks  were  perfect  baby  farms  for  young  seals.  It 
was  a  pretty  sight  to  see  one  of  these  baby  seals  plajdng 
with  its  mother,  whom  it  ke2)t  gently  flicking  over  the 
nose  with  its  small  flippers,  the  mother  every  now  and 
then  gently  boxing  the  baby's  ear  with  one  of  her  large 
flippers.  One  of  these  mothers  charged  down  on 
Mackay,  who  was  making  an  inspection  of  her  baby 
at  too  close  quarters  to  suit  her  fancy.  Another  mother 
was  moaning  in  great  distress  over  her  baby,  which  had 

99 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

just  died.  Evidently  the  mother  seal's  affection  for  her 
young  is  very  strong. 

In  pursuing  our  north-westerly  course  we  were  now 
crossing  a  magnificent  bay  which  trended  westwards 
some  five  or  six  miles  away  from  the  course  we  were 
steering.  On  either  side  of  this  bay  were  majestic 
ranges  of  rocky  mountains  parted  from  one  another 
at  the  head  of  the  bay  by  an  immense  glacier  with 
steep  ice  falls.  On  examining  these  mountains  with  a 
field-glass  it  was  evident  that  in  their  lower  portions  they 
were  formed  of  granites  and  gneiss,  producing  reddish 
brown  soils.  At  the  higher  levels,  further  inland,  there 
Avere  distinct  traces  of  rocks  showing  horizontal  strati- 
fication. The  highest  rock  of  all  was  black  in  colour, 
and  evidently  ver\'  hard,  apj)arently  some  three 
hundred  feet  in  thickness.  Below  this  was  some 
softer  stratified  formation,  approximately  one  thou- 
sand feet  in  tliickness.  We  concluded  that  the  hard 
toj)  layer  was  composed  of  igneous  rock,  possibly  a 
lava,  while  the  horizontal  stratified  formation  be- 
longed in  all  probability  to  the  Reacon  Sandstone 
formation.  Some  fine  nunataks  of  dark  rock  rose 
from  the  south-east  side  of  the  great  glacier.  On 
either  side  of  this  glacier  were  high  terraces  of  rock 
reacliing  back  for  several  miles  from  a  modern  valley 
edge  to  the  foot  of  still  higher  ranges.  It  was  obvious 
that  these  terraces  marked  the  position  of  the  floor  of 
the  old  valley  at  a  time  when  the  glacier  ice  was  several 
thousand  feet  higher  than  it  is  now,  and  some  ten  miles 
wider  than  at  present.  The  glacier  trended  inland  in  a 
general  south-westerly  direction. 

We  longed  to  turn  our  sledges  shorewards  and 
explore  these  inland  rocks,  but  this  would  have  involved 
a  delay  of  several  days — probably  a  week  at  least — 
and  we  could  not  afford  the  time.    Mawson  took  a  series 

100 


A  CHART  INACCURACY 

of  horizontal  and  vertical  angles  with  the  theodolite  to 
aU  the  upper  peaks  in  these  ranges.  We  were  much 
puzzled  to  determine  on  what  part  of  the  charted  coast 
tlais  wide  bay  and  great  glacier  valley  was  situated.  We 
speculated  as  to  whether  it  was  Granite  Harbour,  but 
decided  that  it  could  not  be  in  view  of  the  distance 
recorded  by  our  sledge  meter,  for,  according  to  this,  we 
must  still  be  some  twenty  miles  south  of  Granite  Harbour 
proper.  We  were  to  find  out  much  later  that  the  point 
opposite  which  we  had  now  arrived  was  in  reality  Granite 
Harbour,  and  that  its  position  was  not  shown  correctly 
on  the  chart.  Of  course  in  pioneering  work  occasional 
mistakes  such  as  these  are  inevitable. 

The  following  day  the  sledge  still  proved  very 
heavy  on  account  of  the  soft  snow — two  to  four  inches 
deep — which  was  continually  clogging  the  runners  of  our 
sledges.  It  was  also  difficult  to  steer  a  good  course 
amongst  the  hummocky  pack-ice  on  account  of  the  day 
being  dull  and  overcast.  There  was  much  low  stratus 
cloud,  and  a  light  south-easterly  wind. 

The  weather  of  October  27  was  beautifully  clear 
and  sunshiny,  and  we  had  a  glorious  view  of  the 
great  mountain  ranges  on  either  side  of  Granite  Harbour. 
The  rich  colouring  of  warm  sepia  brown  and  terra  cotta 
in  these  rocky  hills  was  quite  a  relief  to  the  eye.  Wind 
springing  up  in  the  south-east  we  made  sail  on  both 
sledges,  and  this  helped  us  a  good  deal  over  the  soft 
snow  and  occasional  patches  of  sharp-edged  brash  ice. 
Occasionally  the  loinners  of  our  sledge  would  catch  on 
one  of  these  sharp  fragments,  and  there  would  be  a 
harsh  rasping  sound  as  a  shaving  was  peeled  off  the 
runner.  We  feared  that  the  wind  would  develop  into  a 
true  blizzard,  but  it  proved  to  be  only  what  Joyce  used 
to  call  a  "  carpet  sweeper,"  driving  along  the  newly 
fallen  snow  in  white  gossamer-like  films  over  the  sea  ice. 

101 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Towards  evening  we  fetched  up  against  some  high 
ice-pressure  cracks  witli  the  ice  ridged  up  six  to  eight 
feet  high  in  huge  tunil)le(l  blocks.  We  seemed  to  have 
got  hito  a  labyrinth  of  these  pressure  ridges  from  which 
there  was  no  outlet.  At  last,  after  several  cajjsizes  of 
the  sledges  and  some  chopping  through  the  ice  ridges 
by  Mackay,  we  got  the  sledges  through,  and  camped  on 
a  level  jiiece  of  ice.  We  were  much  helped  in  crossing 
the  ridges  by  the  long  steep  sastrugi  of  hardened  snow. 
In  places  these  ran  like  ramps  up  to  the  top  of  the 
pressure  ridges,  and  were  just  wide  enough  and  strong 
enough  to  bear  our  sledges.  JVlawson  and  I  at  this 
time  were  still  wearing  finnesko,  while  INIackay  had  taken 
to  ski  boots. 

The  following  day,  October  28,  the  sledging  Avas 
again  very  heaA'^'  over  stick5%  soft  snow  alternating 
with  hard  sastrugi  and  patches  of  consolidated  brash 
ice.  Shavings  of  wood  were  being  constantly  rasped  off 
the  runners  of  our  sledges.  Mackay  lost  one  of  his 
finnesko  off  the  sledge,  but  walked  back  a  couple  of 
miles  in  the  evening  and  recovered  it.  Our  course  had 
taken  us  past  a  number  of  snowbergs;  these  were  mostly 
about  forty  feet  in  height  and  from  a  quarter  to  half  a 
mile  in  length.  They  were  rigidly  embedded  in  the  sea 
ice.  Occasionally  we  met  with  a  true  iceberg  of  blue  ice 
amongst  the  snowbergs. 

After  our  evening  hoosh,  INIawson  and  I  went  over 
to  the  shore,  rather  more  than  half  a  mile  distant,  in 
order  to  study  the  rocks.  These  we  found  were  com- 
posed of  coarse  red  granite;  the  top  of  the  granite 
was  much  smoothed  by  glacier  ice,  and  strewn  with 
large  erratic  blocks.  In  places  the  granite  was  inter- 
sected by  black  dykes  of  basic  rocks.  One  could  see 
that  the  glacier  ice,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  inland  from 
this  rocky  shore,  had  only  recently  retreated  and  laid  bare 

102 


HEAVY  RELAY  WORK 

the  glaciated  rocky  surface.  We  found  a  little  moss  here 
amongst  the  crevices  in  the  granite  rock. 

October  29  was  beautifully  fine,  though  a  keen  and 
fresh  wind,  rather  unpleasantly  cold,  was  blo^\ing  from 
off  the  liigh  momitain  plateau  to  our  west.  It  blew 
from  a  direction  west  by  south  and  caused  a  little  low 
drift  in  the  loose  snow  on  the  surface  of  the  sea  ice. 
There  was  still  a  great  deal  of  deep,  soft  snow  alternating 
with  hard  sastrugi  and  small  patches  of  consolidated 
brash  ice,  so  that  the  sledging  was  very  heavy. 

We  were  all  thoroughly  done  up  at  night  after  com- 
pleting our  four  miles  of  relay  work.  That  evening  we 
discussed  the  important  question  of  whether  it  would  be 
possible  to  eke  out  our  food-sujiplies  with  seal  meat  so 
as  to  avoid  putting  ourselves  on  half  rations,  and  we  all 
agreed  that  tliis  should  be  done.  We  made  up  our  minds 
that  at  the  fii-st  convenient  spot  we  would  make  a 
depot  of  any  articles  of  equipment,  geological  specimens, 
&c.,  in  order  to  lighten  our  sledges,  and  would  at  the 
same  time,  if  the  spot  was  suitable,  make  some  ex- 
periments with  seal  meat.  The  chief  problem  in 
connection  with  the  latter  was  how  to  cook  it  without 
the  aid  of  paraiiin  oil.  We  could  not  afford  more 
paraffin  for  tliis  purpose,  as  we  estimated  that  even  with 
the  utmost  care  the  supply  for  our  Primus,  which  we 
used  for  bre\\'ing  tea,  cocoa  and  hoosh,  ,.ould  become 
exliausted  before  we  could  hope  to  reach  the  ^Magnetic 
Pole,  unless  somo  kind  of  substitute  for  paraffin  could 
be  found. 

The  following  day,  October  30,  was  full  of  interest 
for  us,  as  well  as  hard  work.  In  the  early  morning, 
between  2.30  a.m.  and  6.30  a.m.,  a  mild  blizzard  was 
blowing.  We  got  under  way  a  little  later  and  camped 
at  about  10.30  a.m.  for  lunch  alongside  a  very  inter- 
esting rockj'  point.    ^lawson  got  a  good  set  of  theodolite 

103 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

angles  from  the  top  of  this  point.  Tlie  point  was  formed 
of  coarse  porphyritic  grey  gneiss,  traversed  by  black 
dykes  of  rock,  apparently  tinguaite,  and  another  variety 
containing  an  abundance  of  sparkling  black  crystals  of 
hornblende,  which  may  be  termed  provisionally  a  horn- 
blende lamprophyre. 

After  lunch  we  passed  close  by  a  mother  seal  and  her 
babj\  The  mother  charged  us  and  we  had  to  skid  along 
quick  and  lively  past  her  with  the  sledges.  That  daj-  was 
the  first  occasion  that  we  tried  the  experiment  of  strength- 
ening the  brew  of  the  tea  by  using  the  old  tea-leaves  of 
a  previous  meal  mixed  with  the  new  ones.  Tliis  was 
JNIackay's  idea,  and  3Iawson  and  I  at  the  time  did  not 
appreciate  the  experiment.  Later  on,  however,  we  were 
very  glad  to  adopt  it. 

The  sledging  that  afternoon  was  about  the  heaviest 
we  had  experienced  up  to  date.  The  weather  was  now 
daily  becoming  warmer  and  the  saline  snow  on  the  sea 
ice  became  sticky  in  consequence.  It  gripped  the 
runners  of  the  sledges  like  glue,  and  we  were  only  able 
M'ith  our  greatest  efforts  to  drag  the  sledges  over  this  at 
a  snail's  pace.  We  were  all  thoroughly  exhausted  that 
evening  when  we  camped  at  the  base  of  a  rocky  promon- 
tory about  180  ft.  high.  This  cliff  was  formed  of  coarse 
gneiss,  with  numerous  dark  streaks,  and  enclosures  of 
huge  masses  of  greenish-grey  quartzite. 

After  our  evening  hoosh  we  walked  over  to  a  very 
interesting  small  island  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
distant.  It  was  truly  a  most  wonderful  place  geologi- 
cally, and  was  a  perfect  elysium  for  tlie  mineralogist. 
The  island,  which  we  afterwards  called  Depot  Island, 
was  accessible  on  the  shorcAvard  side,  but  rose  per- 
pendicularly to  a  height  of  200  ft.  above  sea-level  on  the 
other  three  sides.  There  was  very  little  snow  or  ice 
upon   it,   the   surface  being  almost   entirely   formed   of 

104 


T^-'f-- 


'■*:*»,■ 


D.UtK    ENCLOSrRE:^    OF    IIORNEBLEXDE-RoCK    IN    GnEISS,     DePOT    IsLAND 


J 


L'ljA^t    ui     \"Il1u..ia    La:.1j 


MINERAL  DISCOVERIES 

gneissic  granite.  This  granite,  as  shown  in  the  photo- 
graj^h,  was  full  of  dark  enclosures  of  basic  rocks,  rich  in 
black  mica  and  huge  crystals  of  hornblende.  It  was  in 
these  enclosures  that  JSIawson  discovered  a  translucent 
brown  mineral,  which  he  believed  to  be  monazite,  but 
which  has  since  proved  to  be  titanium  mineral.  Patches 
of  a  crystalline,  milkj'-white  mineral  were  to  be  seen 
amongst  the  large  platy  crystals  of  dark  green  horn- 
blende. These  white  crystals  we  thought  might  be 
scapolite.  We  returned  to  camp  and  slept  soundly  after 
the  severe  work  of  the  day. 

We  were  up  at  6  a.m.  next  morning,  and  after 
breakfast  ISIackay  and  Mawson  went  in  pursuit  of  some 
seals  which  we  had  sighted  further  back  on  the  previous 
day,  while  I  climbed  up  an  adjacent  granite  slope  with 
the  field-glasses,  watching  for  a  signal  from  them,  if 
they  were  successful  in  their  hunting,  to  bring  up  an 
empty  sledge.  They  were,  however,  unsuccessful  in 
their  quest,  and  after  some  time  returned  to  camp. 

We  packed  up  and  made  for  the  island  at  9.30  a.m. 
The  sledging  was  extremely  heav\%  and  we  fell  into  a 
tide-crack  on  the  way,  but  the  sledge  was  got  over  safely. 
IVIackay  sighted  a  seal  about  six  hundred  j'ards  distant 
from  the  site  of  our  new  camp  near  the  island,  and  just 
then  we  noticed  that  another  seal  had  bobbed  up  in  the 
tide-crack  close  to  our  old  camp.  ]\Iackay  and  JNIawson 
at  once  started  off  in  the  direction  where  the  first  seal 
had  been  sighted.  It  proved  to  be  a  bull  seal  in  very 
good  condition,  and  they  killed  it  by  knocking  it  on  the 
head  with  an  ice-axe.  Meanwhile,  I  unpacked  the  Duff 
sledge  and  took  it  out  to  them.  Returning  to  the  site 
of  our  camp  I  put  up  the  tent,  and  on  going  back  to 
Mawson  and  INIackay  found  that  they  had  finished 
fletching  the  seal.  We  loaded  up  the  empty  sledge  with 
seal  blubber,  resembling  bars  of  soap  in  its  now  frozen 

105 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

condition,  steak  and  liver,  and  returned  to  camp  for 
lunch. 

After  lunch  we  took  some  blubber  and  seal  meat 
on  to  the  island,  intending  to  try  the  experiment  of 
making  a  blubber  fire  in  order  to  cook  the  meat. 
We  worked  our  way  a  short  distance  up  a  steep,  rocky 
gulley,  and  there  built  a  firej)lace  out  of  magnificent 
specimens  of  hornblende  rock.  It  seemed  a  base  use 
for  such  magnificent  mineralogical  specimens,  but 
necessity  knows  no  laws.  We  had  brouglit  with  us  our 
Primus  lamp  in  order  to  start  the  fire.  We  put  blubber 
on  our  iron  shovel,  warmed  tliis  underneath  by  means 
of  the  heat  of  the  Primus  lamp  so  as  to  render  down  the 
oil  from  it,  and  then  lit  the  oil.  The  experiment  was 
not  altogether  successful.  IMawson  cooked  for  about 
three  hours,  closely  and  anxiously  watched  by  Mackay 
and  myself.  Occasionally  he  allowed  us  to  taste  small 
snacks  of  the  partly  cooked  seal  meat,  which  Mere  pro- 
nounced to  be  delicious. 

While  the  experiment  was  at  its  most  critical 
stage,  at  about  6  p.m.,  we  observed  sudden  swirls 
of  snowdrift  high  up  on  the  w'estern  mountains, 
coming  rapidly  down  to  lower  levels.  For  a  few 
minutes  we  did  not  think  seriously  of  the  phenome- 
non, but  as  the  drift  came  nearer  we  saw  that  some- 
thing serious  was  in  the  air.  Mackay  and  I  rushed  down 
to  our  tent,  the  skirt  of  which  was  only  temporarily 
secured  with  light  blocks  of  snow.  We  reached  it  just  as 
it  was  struck  by  the  sudden  blizzard  which  had  descended 
from  the  western  mountains.  There  was  no  time  to  dig 
further  blocks  of  snow,  all  we  could  do  was  to  seize  the 
heavy  food-bags  on  our  sledges,  weighing  sixty  pounds 
each,  and  nish  them  on  to  the  skirt  of  the  tent.  The 
blizzard  struck  our  kitchen  on  the  island  sinmltaneously 
with  our  tent,  and  temporarily  IMawson  lost  liis  mits  and 

106 


RATIONS   REDUCED 

most  of  the  tit-bits  of  seal  meat,  but  these  were  quickly 
recovered,  and  he  came  rusliing  down  to  join  us  in 
securing  the  tent.  Wliile  Mawson  in  frantic  haste 
chopi^ed  out  blocks  of  snow  and  dumped  them  on  to  the 
skirt  of  the  tent,  IMackay,  no  less  frantically,  struggled 
with  our  sleeping-bag,  which  had  been  turned  inside- 
out  to  air,  and  which  by  tliis  time  was  covered  with 
drift  snow.  He  quickly  had  it  turned  right  side  in 
again,  and  dashed  it  inside  the  tent.  At  last  every- 
thing was  secured,  and  we  found  ourselves  safe  and 
sound  inside  the  tent.  The  Primus  was  quickly  got 
going,  and  soon  we  had  some  hot  cocoa  and  hot  seal 
pottage,  together  with  some  small  pieces  of  charred  but 
delicious  seal  blubber.  The  blizzard  continued  until 
past  our  bedtime.  We  turned  in  with  a  determination 
of  making  further  experiments  on  the  cooking  of  seal 
meat  on  the  following  morning. 

The  following  day,  November  1,  we  breakfasted 
off  a  mixture  of  our  ordinary  hoosh  and  seal  meat. 
After  some  discussion  we  decided  that  our  only  hope  of 
reaching  the  JNIagnetic  Pole  lay  in  our  travelling  on 
half  rations  from  our  present  camp  to  the  point  on 
the  coast  at  the  Drygalski  Glacier,  where  we  might  for 
the  first  time  hope  to  be  able  to  turn  inland  with  reason- 
able prospect  of  reaching  the  ]Magnetic  Pole.  JNIawson 
was  emphatic  that  we  must  conserve  six  weeks  of  full 
rations  for  our  inland  journey  to  and  from  the  Pole. 
This  necessitated  our  going  on  half  rations  from  this 
island  to  the  far  side  of  the  Drygalski  Glacier,  a  distance 
of  about  one  hundred  statute  miles.  In  order  to  sup- 
plement the  regular  half  rations  we  intended  to  take  seal 
meat. 

While  I  was  busy  in  calculating  the  times  and 
distances  for  the  remainder  of  our  journey,  and  pro- 
portioning the  food  rations  to  suit  our  new  programme, 

107 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

Mawson  and  ^lackay  conducted  further  experiments 
on  the  cooking  of  seal  meat  mth  blubber.  While  at 
our  whiter  quarters,  Mackay  had  made  some  ex- 
periments on  the  use  of  blubber  as  a  fuel.  He  had  con- 
structed a  blubber  lamp,  the  wick  of  wliich  kept  alight 
for  several  hours  at  a  time,  feeding  itself  on  the  seal 
oil.  lie  had  tried  the  expermient  of  heating  up  water 
over  this  blubber  lamp,  and  was  partly  successful  at 
the  time  when  we  left  winter  quarters  for  our  present 
sledging  journey.  But  his  experiments  at  the  time 
were  not  taken  very  seriously,  and  the  blubber  lamp 
was  left  behind,  a  fact  which  we  now  much  regretted. 
An  effective  cooking-stove  was,  however,  evolved,  as 
the  result  of  a  series  of  exi)eriments  this  day,  out  of  one 
of  our  large  empty  biscuit  tins.  The  lid  of  this  was 
perforated  with  a  number  of  circular  holes  for  the 
reception  of  wicks.  Its  edges  were  bent  down,  so  as 
to  form  supports  to  keep  the  wick -holder  about  half  an 
inch  above  the  bottom  of  the  biscuit  tin.  The  wick- 
holder  was  put  in  place;  wicks  were  made  of  pieces  of 
old  cahco  food-bags  rolled  in  seal  blubber,  or  with  thin 
slices  of  seal  blubber  enfolded  in  them,  the  calico  being 
done  up  in  little  rolls  for  the  purpose  of  making  wicks, 
as  one  rolls  a  cigarette,  the  seal  blubber  taking  the 
place  of  the  tobacco  in  this  case.  Lumps  of  blubber 
were  laid  round  the  wick-holder.  Then,  after  some 
difficulty,  the  wicks  were  lighted.  They  burned  feebly 
at  first,  as  seal  blubber  has  a  good  deal  of  water  in 
it.  After  some  minutes  of  fitful  spluttering,  the  wicks 
got  fairly  alight,  and  as  soon  as  the  lower  part  of  the 
biscuit  tin  was  raised  to  a  high  temperature,  the  big 
lumps  of  blubber  at  the  side  commenced  to  have  the 
water  boiled  out  of  them  and  the  oil  rendered  down. 
This   oil   ran   under   the   wick-holder   and   supplied   the 

108 


COOKING  WITH  BLUBBER 

wicks  at  theii"  base.  The  wicks,  now  fed  with  warm, 
pure  seal  oil,  started  to  burn  brightly,  and  even  fiercely, 
so  that  it  became  necessary  occasionally  to  damp  them 
down  with  cliips  of  fresh  blubber.  We  tried  the  ex- 
periment of  using  lumps  of  salt  as  wicks,  and  found  this 
fairly  successful.  We  also  tried  small  pieces  of  our 
brown  rope  for  the  same  purpose,  using  the  separated 
strands  of  these  cut  in  pieces  of  about  one  and  a  half 
inches  long.  These  made  excellent  wicks,  but  we 
could  not  spare  much  rope.  We  also  tried  the  lamp- 
Avick  that  we  had  brought  with  us  for  binding  on  our 
finnesko,  but  in  this  case  also  rigid  economy  was  an 
absolute  necessity.  We  decided  to  rely  for  wicks  chiefly 
on  our  empty  food-bags,  and  thought  possibly  that  if 
these  ran  out  we  might  have  recourse  to  moss.  But  the 
empty  food-bags  supplied  sufficient  wick  for  our  need. 

That  day,  by  means  of  galvanised  iron  wires,  we 
slung  the  inner  pot  from  our  aluminium  cooker  over 
the  lighted  wicks  of  our  blubber  cooker,  thawed 
down  snow  in  it,  added  cliips  of  seal  meat  and  made 
a  dehcious  bouillon.  Tliis  had  a  rich  red  colom*  and 
seemed  veiy  nutritious,  but  to  me  was  indigestible. 
W^hile  INIawson  was  still  engaged  on  further  cooking 
experiments,  Mackay  and  I  ascended  to  the  highest 
point  of  the  island,  selected  a  spot  for  a  cairn  to  mark 
our  depot,  and  Mackay  commenced  building  the  cairn. 
Meanwliile,  I  returned  to  camp  and  A\Tote  a  number  of 
letters,  including  one  to  the  commander  of  the  Nivirod. 
The  latter  was  accompanied  by  a  sketch  plan  taken 
from  the  Admiralty  chart  to  show  the  proper  position 
of  our  final  depot  before  we  were  to  turn  inland  "  on 
the  low  sloping  shore  "  to  the  north-Mest  of  the  Drygalski 
Glacier.  The  other  letters  were  to  Lieutenant  Shackleton 
and  to  my  family. 

109 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

The  letter  to  the  conmiander  of  the  Ximrod  contained 
the  following  statement  of  our  plans: 

"  CaiuPj  Granite  Harbour.* 
"  Drar  Sir, — I  beg  to  inform  you  that  we  intend 
leaving  here  to-morrow  in  continuation  of  our  journey 
towards  the  ^Magnetic  Pole.  W'e  have  to  work  our  two 
sledges  by  relays,  which,  of  course,  means  slow  pro- 
gress— only  about  four  miles  per  day.  At  this  rate  we 
hope  to  reach  the  north  side  of  the  Drygalski  Ice  Barrier 
at  the  f)onit  where  '  low  sloping  shore  '  is  marked  on  the 
Admiralty  Chart  of  the  Antarctic  Sheet  III.  (please 
see  sketch  on  oj)posite  page),  by  about  December  1.5. 
We  pi'opose  to  make  a  depot  there  marked  by  a  black 
flag  similar  to  the  one  w^e  are  leaving  here  at  the  island 
at  south  side  of  entrance  to  Granite  Harbour.  AVe 
propose  to  travel  inland  from  the  '  low  sloping  shore,' 
and  if  possible  reach  the  ^Magnetic  Pole  and  return  to 
depot.  We  estimate  that  this  may  take  six  weeks,  so 
that  we  may  not  return  to  the  coast  at  the  low  sloping 
shore  depot  until  about  January  25.  We  propose  to  wait 
there  until  the  Ximrod  calls  for  us  at  the  beginning  of 
Februar}'." 

The  letter  concluded  with  detailed  instructions  re- 
garding the  course  to  be  pursued  in  searching  for  the 
party. 

*  At  this  time  we  were  under  the  impression  that  this  island  was 
on  the  south  side  of  Granite  Harbour.  We  did  not  know  that  we  had 
already  left  Granite  Harbour  about  twelve  miles  to  the  south  of  us. 


PROFESSOR  DAVID  S  NARRATIVE  (.Continue^ 

The  old  dragon  under  ground 

In   straiter  limits   bounds 

Not  half  so  far  casts  his  usurped  sway. 

And  wroth  to  see  his  kingdom  fail. 

Swinges  the  scaly  horror  of  his  folded  tail. 

Milton. 

T  T  had,  of  course,  become  clear  to  us  before  this  letter 
■^  was  written,  in  view  of  our  experience  of  the  already 
cracking  sea  ice  near  the  true  Granite  Harbour,  as  well 
as  in  view  of  our  comparativelj'  slow  progress  by  relay, 
that  our  retreat  back  to  camp  from  the  direction  of  the 
IMagnetic  Pole  would  in  all  probability  be  entirely  cut 
off  through  the  breaking  up  of  the  sea  ice.  Under 
these  circumstances  we  determined  to  take  the  risk  of 
the  Nirarod  arriving  safely  on  her  return  voyage  at 
Cape  Royds,  where  she  would  receive  the  instructions 
to  search  for  us  along  the  western  coast,  and  also  the  risk 
of  her  not  being  able  to  find  our  depot  and  ourselves  at 
the  low  sloping  shore.  ^Ve  knew  that  there  was  a  certain 
amount  of  danger  in  adopting  this  course,  but  we 
felt  that  we  had  got  on  so  far  with  the  work  en- 
trusted to  us  by  our  Commander,  that  we  could  not 
honourably  now  turn  back.  Under  these  circumstances 
we  each  ^\Tote  farewell  letters  to  those  who  were  nearest 
and  dearest,  and  the  following  morning,  Xovember  2, 
we  were  up  at  4.30  a.m.  After  putting  all  the  letters 
into  one  of  our  empty  dried-milk  tins,  and  fitting  on 
the  air-tight  lid,  I  walked  \\ith  it  to  the  island  and  climbed 

111 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

up  to  the  cairn.  Here,  after  carefullj'  depoting  several 
bags  of  geological  specimens  at  tlie  base  of  the  flagstaff, 
I  lashed  the  httle  post  office  by  means  of  cord  and  copper- 
wire  securely  to  the  flagstaff,  and  then  carried  some  large 
slabs  of  exfoliated  granite  to  the  cairn,  and  built  them 
up  on  the  leeward  side  of  it  in  order  to  strengthen  it 
against  the  southerly  blizzards.  A  keen  wind  was 
blowing,  as  was  usual  in  the  early  morning,  off  the  high 
plateau,  and  one's  hands  got  frequently  frost-l)itten  in 
the  work  of  securing  the  tin  to  the  flagstaff.  The 
cairn  was  at  the  seaward  end  of  a  sheer  cliflp  two  hundred 
feet  high. 

On  returning  to  camp  I  put  some  chopped  seal 
meat  into  the  cooking-pot  on  our  blubber  stove,  which 
JNIawson  had  meanwhile  lighted,  and  about  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  later  we  partook  of  some  nourishing, 
but  no  less  indigestible  seal  bouillon.  It  was  later 
than  usual  when  we  started  our  sledges,  and  the  pulling 
proved  extremely  heavy.  The  sun's  heat  was  thawing  the 
snow  surface  and  making  it  extremely  sticky.  Our  pro- 
gress was  so  painfully  slow  that  we  decided,  after,  with 
great  efforts,  doing  two  miles,  to  camp,  have  our  hoosh, 
and  then  turn  in  for  six  hours,  having  meanwhile  started 
the  blubber  lamp.  At  the  expiration  of  that  time  we 
intended  to  get  out  of  our  sleeping-bag,  breakfast,  and 
start  sledging  about  midnight.  We  hoped  that  by  adopt- 
ing nocturnal  habits  of  travelling,  we  would  avoid  the 
sticky  ice-surface  which  by  daytime  formed  such  an 
obstacle  to  our  progress. 

We  carried  out  this  programme  on  the  evening 
of  November  2,  and  the  morning  of  November  3. 
We  found  the  experiment  fairly  successful,  as  at  mid- 
night and  for  a  few  hours  afterwards,  the  temperature 
remained  sufficiently  low  to  keep  the  surface  of  the  snow 
on  the  sea  ice  moderately  crisp. 

112 


< 

g 


A  DRINK   DEBATED 

On  November  3  and  4  the  weather  was  fine,  and  we 
made  fair  progress.  At  noon  Mawson  cleaned  out  the 
refuse  from  our  blubber  lamp.  Amongst  this  were  a 
few  dainty  bits;  jNlackay  was  Avhat  he  called  "playing 
the  skua,"  picking  these  over,  when  he  accidentally 
transfen-ed  to  his  mouth  and  swallowed  one  of  the 
salt  wicks  which  we  had  been  using  in  the  blubber  lamp. 
Mawson  and  I  were  unaware  of  this  episode  at  the 
time.  Later  on,  towards  evening,  he  complained  much 
of  thirst,  and  proferred  a  gentle  request,  when  the  snow 
was  being  thawed  down  preparatory  to  making  hoosh, 
that  he  might  be  allowed  to  drink  some  of  the  water 
before  the  hoosh  was  put  into  it;  at  the  same  time  he 
gave  us  the  plausible  explanation  above  mentioned  as  the 
cause  of  his  exceeding  thirst.  After  debating  the  matter 
at  some  length,  it  was  decided,  in  view  of  the  special 
circumstances  surrounding  the  case,  and  without  creating 
a  precedent — which  otherwise  might  become  a  dangerous 
one — that  he  might  be  allowed  on  this  occasion  to  take 
a  drink.  JNlackay,  however,  considered  that  this  water 
gift  was  given  grudgingly,  and  of  necessity,  and  accord- 
ingly he  sternly  refused  to  accept  it.  Just  then,  the 
whole  discussion  was  abruptly  terminated  through  the 
pot  being  accidentally  capsized  when  being  lifted  off 
the  blubber  lamp,  and  the  whole  of  the  water  was  lost. 

On  the  following  day,  November  5,  we  were  opposite 
a  very  interesting  coastal  panorama,  which  we  thought 
belonged  to  Granite  Harbour,  but  which  was  really 
over  twenty  miles  to  the  north  of  it.  ]Magnificent 
ranges  of  mountains,  steep  slopes  free  from  snow  and 
ice,  stretched  far  to  the  north  and  far  to  the  south  of 
us,  and  finished  away  inland,  towards  the  heads  of  long 
glacier  cut  valleys,  in  a  vast  upland  snoAv  plateau.  The 
rocks  which  were  exposed  to  view  in  the  lower  part  of 
these  ranges  were  mostly  of  warm  sepia  brown  to  terra- 

voi.  ii.-«  113 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

cotta  lint,  aiid  were  evidently  built  up  of  a  continuation 
of  the  gneissic  rocks  and  red  granites  which  we  had 
previously  seen.  Above  these  crystalline  rocks  came  a 
belt  of  greenish-grey  rock,  apparently  belonging  to  some 
stratified  formation  and  possibly  many  hundreds  of 
feet  in  thickness;  the  latter  was  capped  with  a  black 
rock  that  seemed  to  be  either  a  basic  i)lateau  lava,  or 
a  huge  sill.  In  the  direction  of  the  glacier  valleys,  the 
plateau  was  broken  up  into  a  vast  number  of  conical 
hills  of  various  shajies  and  heights,  all  showing  evidence  of 
intense  glacial  action  in  the  past.  The  hills  were  here 
separated  from  the  coast-line  by  a  continuous  belt  of 
piedmont  glacier  ice.  Tliis  last  terminated  where  it 
joined  the  sea  ice  in  a  steep  slojie,  or  low  cliff,  and  in 
places  was  very  much  crevassed.  ^Nlawson  at  our  noon 
halts  for  lunch,  continued  taking  the  angles  of  all  these 
ranges  and  vallej-^s  with  our  theodolite. 

The  temperature  was  now  rising,  being  as  high  as 
22°  Fahr.  at  noon  on  November  5.  ^Ve  had  a  very  heavy 
sledging  surface  that  day,  there  being  much  consolidated 
brash  ice,  sastrugi,  pie-crust  snow,  and  numerous 
cracks  in  the  sea  ice.  As  an  offset  to  these  troubles  we 
had  that  night,  for  the  first  time,  the  use  of  our  new 
frying-pan,  constructed  by  Mawson  out  of  one  of  our 
empty  paraffin  tins.  This  tin  had  been  cut  in  half 
down  the  middle  parallel  to  its  broad  surfaces,  and 
loops  of  iron  wire  being  added,  it  was  possible  to  sus- 
pend it  inside  the  empty  biscuit  tin  above  the  wicks  of 
our  blubber  lamp.  We  found  that  in  this  frying-pan 
we  could  rapidlj'  render  down  the  seal  blubber  into 
oil,  and  as  soon  as  the  oil  boiled  we  dropped  into  the 
pan  small  slices  of  seal  liver  or  seal  meat.  The  liver 
took  about  ten  minutes  to  cook  in  the  boiling  oil,  the  seal 
meat  about  twenty  minutes.  These  facts  were  ascer- 
tained  by   the   empirical   method.      Mawson   discovered 

114 


SEAL  BOUILLON 

by  the  same  method  that  the  nicely  browned  and  crisp 
residue  from  the  seal  blubber,  after  the  oil  in  it  had 
become  rendered  down,  was  good  eating,  and  had  a  fine 
nutty  flavour.  We  also  found,  as  the  result  of  later 
exijeriments,  that  drojjping  a  little  seal's  blood  into  the 
boiling  oil  produced  eventually  a  gravj^  of  very  fine 
flavour.  If  the  seal  blood  was  poured  in  rapidly  into 
the  boiling  oil,  it  made  a  kind  of  gravy  pancake,  which 
we  also  considered  very  good  as  a  variety. 

We  had  a  magnificent  view  this  day  of  fresh  ranges 
of  mountains  to  the  north  of  De2:)6t  Island.  At  the  foot 
of  these  was  an  extensive  terrace  of  glacier  ice,  a  curious 
type  of  piedmont  glacier.  Its  surface  was  strongly 
convex  near  where  it  terminated  seawards  in  a  steep 
slope  or  low  cliff.  In  places  this  ice  was  heavily 
crevassed.  At  a  distance  of  several  miles  inland  it 
reached  the  spurs  of  an  immense  coastal  range,  while  in 
the  wide  gaps  in  this  range  the  ice  trended  inland  as 
far  as  the  eye  could  see  until  it  blended  in  the  far  dis- 
tance with  the  skyline  high  uji  on  the  great  inland 
plateau. 

A  little  before  9  p.m.  on  November  5  we  left  our 
sleeping-bag,  and  found  snow  falling,  with  a  fresh  and 
chilly  breeze  from  the  south.  The  blubber  lamp,  which 
we  had  lighted  before  we  had  turned  in,  had  got  blown 
out.  We  built  a  chubby  house  for  it  of  snow  blocks  to 
keep  off  the  wind,  and  relighted  it,  and  then  turned 
into  the  sleeping-bag  again  while  we  waited  for  the 
snow  and  chips  of  seal  meat  in  our  cooking-pot  to  be- 
come converted  into  a  hot  bouillon;  the  latter  was 
ready  after  an  interval  of  about  one  hour  and  a  half. 
Just  before  midnight  we  brought  the  cooker  alight  into 
the  tent  in  order  to  protect  it  from  the  blizzard  wliich 
was  no^v  blowing  and  bringing  much  falling  snow  w-ith 

115 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

it.  ^lawson's  cooking  experiments  continued  to  be  higlily 
successful  and  entirely  satisfactory  to  the  party. 

We  waited  for  the  falling  snow  to  clear  sufficiently 
to  enable  us  to  see  a  short  distance  ahead,  and  then 
started  agahi,  the  blizzard  still  blowing  with  a  little 
low  drift.  After  doing  a  stage  of  pulling  on  both 
sledges  to  keep  ourselves  warm  in  the  blizzard  we  set 
sail — always  a  chilly  business — and  the  wind  was  a 
distinct  assistance  to  us.  ^Ve  encountered  a  good  deal 
of  brash  ice  that  day,  and  noticed  that  this  type  of  ice 
surface  was  most  conmion  in  the  vicinity  of  icebergs, 
which  just  here  were  very  numerous.  The  brash  ice 
is  probably  formed  by  the  icebergs  surging  to  and  fro 
in  heavy  weather  like  a  lot  of  gigantic  Yermaks,  and 
crunching  up  the  sea  ice  in  their  vicinity.  The  latter, 
of  course,  re-freezes,  produchig  a  surface  covered  with 
jagged  edges  and  points. 

We  were  now  reduced  to  one  plasmon  biscuit  each 
for  breakfast  and  one  for  the  evening  meal,  and  we  were 
unanimous  in  the  opinion  that  we  had  never  before 
fully  realised  how  very  nice  these  plasmon  biscuits 
were.  We  became  exceedingly  careful  even  over  the 
crumbs.  As  some  biscuits  were  thicker  than  others, 
the  cook  for  the  w^eek  would  select  three  biscuits,  place 
them  on  the  outer  cover  of  our  aluminium  cooker,  and 
get  one  of  his  mates  to  look  in  an  opposite  direction  while 
the  messman  pointed  to  a  biscuit  and  said,  "  Whose?  " 
The  mate  with  averted  face,  or  shut  eyes,  would  then 
state  the  owner,  and  the  biscuit  was  ear-marked  for 
him,  and  so  with  the  other  two  biscuits.  Grievous 
was  the  disappointment  of  the  man  to  whose  lot  the 
thinnest  of  the  three  biscuits  had  fallen.  Originally, 
on  this  sledge  journey,  when  biscuits  were  more 
plentiful,  Ave  used  to  eat  them  regardless  of  the  loss  of 
crumbs,    muncliing   them    boldly,    with   the    result   that 

116 


PRECIOUS  BISCUITS 

occasional  crumbs  fell  on  the  floorcloth.  Not  so  now. 
Each  man  broke  his  biscuit  over  his  own  pannikin  of 
hoosh,  so  that  any  crumbs  produced  in  the  process  of 
fracture  fell  into  the  pannikin.  Then,  in  order  to  make 
sure  that  there  were  no  loose  fragments  adhering  to  the 
morsel  we  were  about  to  transfer  to  our  mouths,  we  tapped 
the  broken  chip,  as  well  as  the  biscuit  from  which  it  had 
been  broken,  on  the  sides  of  the  pannikin,  so  as  to  shake 
into  it  any  loose  crumbs.  Then,  and  then  only,  was  it 
safe  to  devour  the  precious  morsel.  JNlackay,  who  adopted 
this  practice  in  common  with  the  rest  of  us,  said  it  re- 
minded him  of  the  old  days  when  the  sailors  tapped  each 
piece  of  broken  biscuit  before  eating  it  in  order  to  shake 
out  the  weevils. 

Mawson  and  I  now  wore  our  ski-boots  instead  of 
finnesko,  the  weather  being  warmer,  and  the  ski-boot 
giving  one  a  better  grip  on  the  snow  surface  of  the  sea 
ice.  The  rough  leather  took  the  skin  off  my  right  heel, 
but  Mackay  fixed  it  up  later  in  the  evening,  that  is, 
my  heel,  with  some  "  Newskin."  As  we  found  the 
sharp  iron  spikes  of  the  ski-boots  made  holes  in 
our  waterproof  floorcloth  we  made  a  practice  of 
always  changing  into  our  finnesko  before  entering  the 
tent. 

We  sledged  on  uneventfully  for  the  remainder  of 
November  6,  and  during  the  7th,  and  on  November  8 
it  came  on  to  blow  again  with  fresh-falling  snow. 
The  blizzard  was  still  blowing  when  the  time  came  for  us 
to  pitch  our  tent.  We  had  a  severe  struggle  to  get 
the  tent  up  in  the  high  wind  and  thick  falling  snow. 
At  last  the  work  was  accompUshed,  and  we  were  all 
able  to  turn  into  our  sleeping-bag,  pretty  tired,  at  about 
12.30  P.M. 

The  weather  was  still  bad  the  following  day, 
November  9.  After  breakfast  off  seal's  liver,  and  digging 

117 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

out  the  sledges  from  the  snow  drift,  we  started  in  the 
bhzzard,  the  snow  still  falling.  After  a  little  while  we 
made  sail  on  both  sledges.  The  hght  was  very  bad  on 
account  of  the  thick  falling  snow,  and  we  were  constantly 
falling  up  to  our  knees  in  the  cracks  in  the  sea  ice.  It 
seemed  miraculous  that  in  spite  of  these  veiy  numerous 
accidents  we  never  sprained  an  ankle. 

That  day  we  saw  a  snow  petrel,  and  three  skua  gulls 
visited  our  camp.  At  last  the  snow  stopped  falling 
and  the  wind  fell  light,  and  we  were  much  cheered  by 
a  fine,  though  distant  view  of  the  Nordenskjold  Ice 
Barrier  to  the  north  of  us.  ^Ve  were  all  extremely 
anxious  to  ascertain  what  sort  of  a  surface  for  sledging 
we  should  meet  with  on  this  great  glacier.  According 
to  the  Admiralty  chart,  prepared  from  observations  by 
the  Discovery  expedition,  this  glacier  was  between 
twenty-four  and  thirty  miles  vide,  and  projected  over 
twenty  miles  from  the  rocky  shore  into  the  sea.  We 
hoped  that  we  might  be  able  to  cross  it  without  following 
a  circuitous  route  along  its  seaward  margins. 

We  started  off  on  November  10,  amongst  very 
heavy  sastrugi  and  ridges  of  broken  pack-ice.  Cracks 
in  the  sea  ice  were  extremely  numerous.  The  morning 
was  somewhat  cloudy,  but  as  the  midnight  sun  got  higher 
in  the  heavens,  the  clouds  dispersed  and  the  weather  be- 
come comparatively  warm,  the  temperature  being  up  to 
plus  3°  Fahr.  at  8  A.:\r.  That  day  when  we  pitched  camp 
we  were  within  half  a  mile  of  the  southern  edge  of  the 
Nordenskjold  Ice  Barrier. 

The  following  day,  November  11,  as  INIawson  wished 
to  get  an  accurate  magnetic  determination  with  the 
Lloyd-Creak  dip  circle,  we  decided  to  camp,  ISIackay 
and  I  exploring  the  glacier  surface  to  select  a  suitable 
track  for  our  sledges  while  INIawson  took  his  observa- 
tions.     After   breakfast   we    removed    everj-thing   con- 

118 


NORDENSKJOLD  ICE-BARRIERS 

taining  iron  several  hundred  yards  away  from  the  tent, 
leaving  Mawson  alone  inside  it  in  company  with  the 
dip  circle.  We  found  that  the  ascent  from  the  sea  ice 
to  the  Nordenskjold  Ice  Barrier  was  a  comj)aratively 
easy  one.  The  surface  was  formed  chiefly  of  hard 
snow  glazed  in  places,  partly  through  thawing  and 
re-freezing,  partly  through  the  polisliing  of  tliis  wind- 
ward surface  by  particles  of  fresh  snow  driven  over  it 
by  the  bhzzards.  Hummocky  masses,  apjjarently  of 
the  nature  of  large  sastrugi,  projected  here  and  there  to 
a  height  of  six  feet  above  the  general  level.  The  latter 
were  something  like  elongated  white  ants'  nests.  In 
places  the  snow  surface  showed  pie-crust  stnicture,  a 
bad  surface  for  sledging.  On  the  whole  this  Barrier 
was  fairly  free  from  crevasses,  although  ^Nlackay  and 
I  crossed  a  few  in  our  short  pioneering  excursion. 

The  surface  ascended  gradually  to  a  little  over  one 
hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea  ice,  passing  into 
a  wide  undulating  jjlain  which  stretched  away  to  the  north 
as  far  as  the  eye  could  see. 

We  returned  to  Mawson  with  the  good  news  that 
the  Nordenskjold  Ice  Barrier  was  quite  practicable  for 
sledging,  and  would  probably  afford  us  a  much  more 
easy  surface  than  the  sea  ice  over  which  we  had  pre- 
viously been  passing.  Mawson  infonned  us,  as  the 
result  of  his  observations  with  the  dip  circle,  that  the 
Magnetic  Pole  was  probablj'  about  forty  miles  further 
inland  than  the  theoretical  mean  position  calculated  for 
it  from  the  magnetic  observations  of  the  Discovery 
expedition  seven  years  ago. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  November  12  we  packed 
up,  and  started  to  cross  the  Nordenskjold  Ice  Barrier. 
We  noticed  here  that  there  were  two  well-marked  sets 
of  sastrugi,  one  set,  nearly  due  north  and  south,  formed 
by  the  strong  southerly  blizzards,  the  other  set,  crossing 

119 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

nearly  at  right  angles,  coming  from  the  west  and  formed 
by  the  cold  land  winds  blowing  off  the  liigh  plateau  at 
night  on  to  the  sea. 

We  were  surprised  to  observe  that  this  ice  barrier 
was  almost  completely  isolated  from  the  shore  by  deep 
inlets,  and  for  a  time  we  speculated  as  to  whether  after 
all  it  might  not  be  a  gigantic  tabular  iceberg  run  aground 
In  view,  however,  of  what  we  observed  later  there  can 
be  little  doubt  that  it  is  of  the  nature  of  a  large  pied- 
mont glacier,  afloat  at  its  seaward  end  and  central 
portions.  It  is  now  practically  inert,  having  no  for- 
ward movement  from  the  land  towards  the  sea.  It  is 
just  the  vanishing  remnant  of  what  at  one  time  was 
no  doubt  a  large  active  glacier,  vigorously  pushed  out 
seaward,  the  overflow  ice  from  the  vast  snow-fields  of 
the  inland  plateau.  The  supply,  however,  of  ice  near 
the  coast  has  dwindled  so  enormously  that  there  is  no 
longer  sufficient  pressure  to  move  this  ice  barrier. 

This  day,  Xovember  12,  was  an  important  one  in 
the  history  of  ]Mawson's  triangulation  of  the  coast, 
for  he  was  able  in  the  morning  to  sight  simultaneously 
JNIount  Erebus  and  Mount  Melbourne,  as  well  as  Mount 
Lister.  We  were  foi-tunate  in  having  a  very  bright 
and  clear  day  on  this  occasion,  and  the  round  of  angles 
obtained  by  Mawson  wth  the  theodolite  were  m  every 
way  satisfactory. 

The  following  day,  Xovember  13,  we  were  still  on  the 
Nordenskjold  Ice  Barrier.  The  temperature  in  the  early 
morning,  about  3  a.m.,  was  minus  13^  Fahr.  Mawson 
had  provided  an  excellent  dish  for  breakfast  consisting 
of  crumbed  seal  meat  and  seal's  blood,  wliich  proved 
delicious.  We  got  under  way  about  2  a.m.  It  was 
a  beautiful  sunshiny  day  with  a  gentle  cold  breeze  off 
the  western  plateau.  When  we  had  sledged  for  about 
one   thousand   yards   Mawson   suddenly   exclaimed   that 

120 


AN   EASY   CROSSING 

he  could  see  the  end  of  the  barrier  where  it  terminated 
in  a  white  cliff  only  about  six  hundred  yards  ahead. 
We  halted  the  sledge,  and  while  JNIawson  took  some  more 
theodolite  angles  jNIackay  and  I  reconnoitred  ahead, 
but  could  find  no  way  down  the  cliff.  We  returned  to 
the  sledge  and  all  pulled  on  for  another  quarter  of  a 
mile.  Once  more  we  reconnoitred,  and  this  time  both 
JVIawson  and  I  found  some  steep  slojies  formed  by 
drifted  snow  wliich  were  just  practicable  for  a  hght 
sledge  lowered  by  an  Alpine  rope.  We  chose  what 
seemed  to  be  the  best  of  these;  Mackay  tied  the  Alpine 
rope  around  his  body,  and  taking  liis  ice-axe  descended 
the  slope  cautiously,  Mawson  and  I  holding  on  to  the 
rope  meanwhile.  The  snow  slope  proved  fairly  soft, 
gi\dng  good  foothold,  and  he  was  soon  at  the  bottom 
without  having  needed  any  sujiport  from  the  Alpine 
rope.  He  then  returned  to  the  top  of  the  slope,  and 
we  all  set  to  work  unpacking  the  sledges.  We  made 
fast  one  of  the  sledges  to  the  Alpine  rope,  and  after 
loading  it  lightly  lowered  it  little  by  little  down  the  slope, 
one  of  us  guiding  the  sledge  wliile  the  other  two  slacked 
out  the  Alpine  rope  above.  The  man  who  went  down 
the  sledge  to  the  bottom  would  unload  it  there  on  the 
sea  ice  and  then  climb  up  the  slope,  the  other  two  mean- 
while pulling  up  the  empty  sledge.  This  manoeuvre  was 
repeated  a  number  of  times  until  eventually  the  whole 
of  our  food  and  equipment,  including  two  sledges,  were 
safely  down  on  the  sea  ice  below. 

We  were  all  much  elated  at  having  got  across  the 
Nordenskjold  Ice  Barrier  so  easily  and  so  quickly. 
We  were  also  fortunate  in  securing  a  seal;  Mackay 
went  off  and  killed  this,  bringing  back  seal  steak,  liver 
and  a  considerable  quantity  of  seal  blood.  From  the 
last  iSIackay  said  he  intended  to  manufacture  a  black 
pudding.     Usually,  I  believe,  a  black  pudding  is  manu- 

121 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

factured  from  the  part  of  the  blood  \\hich  does  not 
contain  the  fibrm,  but  on  this  occasion  the  black  pudding 
was  wholly  formed  of  fibrin,  so  that  it  may  be  described 
as  a  negative  rather  than  a  positive  black  pudding. 
This  fibrin  was  boiled  up  in  seal  oil,  and  though  rather 
tasteless  was  at  all  events  nourishing,  and  was  certainly 
filling. 

W^hile  Mackay  had  been  in  pursuit  of  the  seal  meat 
Mawson  had  taken  a  meridian  altitude  while  I  kept 
the  time  for  him.  After  our  hoosh  we  packed  the 
sledges,  and  Mawson  took  a  ])hotograph  showing 
the  cliff  forming  the  northern  boundary  of  the 
Xordenskjold  Ice  Barrier.  This  cliff  was  about  forty 
feet  in  height.  We  had  some  discussion  as  to  whether 
or  not  there  was  a  true  tidal  crack  separating  the  sea 
ice  from  this  ice  barrier.  Certainly,  on  the  south 
side  there  was  no  evidence  of  the  presence  of  any  such 
crack,  but  on  the  north  side  there  were  small  local 
cracks;  yet  it  could  hardh'  be  said  that  these  were  of 
sufficient  importance  to  be  termed  true  tide-cracks. 
In  one  of  these  cracks  most  beautiful  filagree  ice  crystals, 
fully  one  inch  across,  lined  the  sides  of  the  walls  of  the 
crack  in  the  sea  ice.  There  can  be  little  doubt,  I  think, 
that  the  greater  part  of  this  Nordcnskjold  Ice  Barrier 
is  afloat. 

The  sun  was  so  warm  this  day  that  I  was  tempted 
before  turning  in  to  the  sleeping-bag  to  take  off  my 
ski-boots  and  socks  and  give  my  feet  a  snow  bath,  which 
was  very  refreshing. 

The  following  day,  November  14,  we  were  naturally 
anxious  to  be  sure  of  our  exact  position  on  the  chart, 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  we  had  come  to  the  end  of  the 
ice  barrier  some  eighteen  miles  quicker  than  the  chart 
led  us  to  anticipate  we  should.  ^lawson  accordingly 
worked  up  his  meridian  altitude,  and  I  plotted  out  the 

122 


Cl-IFF    [JOWN    WHUH    THK    .Sl.tbOt-ft    W>.KK    LoWKKKi>    i.X    THt    NoRTH    SiDE    Ot     iHf.    NOKDENSKJOLD 

Ice  Barrier  Tongce 


A  Pause  bt  the  Wat 


SKUA  GULLS 

angular  distances  he  had  found,  respectively,  for  JNIount 
Erebus,  JNIount  Lister  and  JNIount  JNIelbourne.  As  the 
result  of  the  application  of  our  calculations  to  the 
chart  it  became  evident  that  we  had  actually  crossed 
the  Xordenskjold  Ice  Barrier  of  Captain  Scott's  survey, 
and  were  now  opposite  what  on  his  chart  was  termed 
Charcot  Bay.  This  was  good  news  and  cheered  us  up 
very  much,  as  it  meant  that  we  were  nearly  twenty 
miles  further  north  than  we  previously  thought  we 
were. 

The  day  was  calm  and  fine,  and  the  surface  of  the 
sea  ice  was  covered  with  patches  of  soft  snow  Anth  nearly 
bare  ice  between,  and  the  sledging  was  not  quite  as 
heavy  as  usual.  In  the  evening  two  skua  gulls  went  for 
our  seal  meat  during  the  interval  that  we  were  returning 
for  the  second  sledge  after  jjulling  on  the  first  sledge. 
It  was  wonderful  how  quickly  these  gulls  made  their 
appearance  from  distant  parts  of  the  horizon  as  soon 
as  any  fresh  meat  was  available.  The  23re\'ious  day  one 
of  them  had  actually  attempted  to  eat  the  seal  meat  out 
of  our  frjnng-jDan  when  the  meat  was  being  cooked  in 
boiling  oil.  We  could  see  as  we  came  up  from  a  distance 
that  the  heat  of  the  savoury  dish  puzzled  him  a  good 
deal,  as  each  time  he  dipped  his  beak  into  our  hot  mince 
he  jerked  it  out  again  very  suddenly  and  seemed  a  very 
surprised  bird. 

We  had  a  magnificent  \-iew  of  the  rocky  coast-line, 
which  is  here  most  impressive.  The  sea  ice  stretched 
away  to  the  west  of  us  for  several  miles  up  to  a  low  cliff 
and  slope  of  piedmont  glacier  ice,  with  occasional 
black  masses  of  rock  showing  at  its  edge.  Several 
miles  further  inland  the  piedmont  glacier  ice  terminated 
abruptly  against  a  magnificent  range  of  mountains, 
tabular  for  the  most  part  but  deeply  intersected.     In  the 

123 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

wide  gaps  between  this  coast  range  were  vast  glaciers 
fairly  heavily  crevassed,  descenduig  by  steep  slopes  from 
an  inland  plateau  to  the  sea. 

On  November  15,  there  was  a  fresh  wind  from  the 
west-south-west.  The  weather  was  overcast,  and  a  few 
flakes  of  snow  were  falling.  ^Ve  killed  two  young  seals 
to  replenish  our  food-supply.  ]Mackay  took  over  the 
blubber  cooking  apparatus  so  as  to  set  IMawson  free 
for  his  theodolite  observations.  The  sky  was  dull  and 
leaden  for  most  of  the  day,  with  occasional  glimpses  of 
light  over  the  western  mountains.  On  the  whole  it 
looked  as  if  a  blizzard  were  approaching. 

We  were  still  doing  our  travelling  by  night  and 
sleeping  during  the  afternoon.  When  we  arose  from 
our  sleeping-bag  at  8  p.m.  on  the  night  of  November  15, 
we  found  that  the  signs  of  the  blizzard  had  more  or 
less  passed  away.  There  was  a  beautifully  perfect 
"Noah's  Ark"  in  the  sky;  the  belts  of  cirrus-stratus 
comjjosing  the  ark  stretched  from  south-south-west  to 
north-north-east,  converging  towards  the  horizon  in 
each  of  these  directions.  Fleecy  sheets  of  frost  smoke 
arose  from  over  the  open  water  on  Ross  Sea,  and  formed 
dense  cumulus  clouds.  This,  of  course,  was  a  certain 
indication  to  us  that  open  water  was  not  far  distant, 
and  impressed  upon  us  the  necessity  of  making  every 
possible  speed  if  we  hoped  to  reach  our  projected  point 
of  departure  on  the  coast  for  the  ^lagnetic  Pole  before 
the  sea  ice  entirely  broke  up. 

This  had  been  a  truly  glorious  day,  bright  and 
sunny,  and  as  this  was  the  end  of  a  food  week  and  the 
messman  for  the  week  had  kept  a  little  food  up  his 
sleeve,  so  to  speak,  we  fared  sumptuously.  The  cocoa 
was  extra  strong,  milky  and  sweet.  Mackay's  opinion 
was  that  such  cocoa  much  reminded  him  of  better  days, 
and  was  absolutely  uplifting. 

124 


CAPE   IRIZAR 

The  following  day,  November  17,  after  a  very  heavy 
sledging  over  loose  powdery  snow  six  inches  deep  we 
reached  a  low  glacier  and  ice  cUff.  We  were  able  to  get 
some  really  fresh  snow  from  this  barrier  or  glacier,  the 
cliffs  of  wliich  were  from  tliirty  to  forty  feet  high.  It 
was  a  great  treat  to  get  fresh  water  at  last,  as  since  we 
had  left  tlie  Xordenskjold  Ice  Barrier  the  only  snow 
available  for  cooking  purposes  had  been  brackish. 

The  following  day  was  also  bright  and  sunny,  but 
the  sledging  was  terribly  heavy.  The  sun  had  thawed 
the  surface  of  the  saline  snow  and  our  sledge  runners 
had  become  saturated  with  soft  water.  We  were  so 
wearied  with  the  great  effort  necessary  to  keep  the 
sledges  moving  that  at  the  end  of  each  halt  we  feU 
sound  asleep  for  five  minutes  or  so  at  a  time  across  the 
sledges.  On  such  occasions  one  of  the  party  would 
wake  the  others  up,  and  we  Avould  continue  our  journey. 
We  were  even  more  utterly  exhausted  than  usual  at  the 
end  of  tliis  day. 

By  tills  time,  however,  we  were  in  sight  of  a  rocky 
headland  which  we  took  to  be  Cape  Irizar,  and  we  knew 
that  this  cape  was  not  verj'  far  to  the  south  of  the 
Drygalski  Glacier.  Indeed,  already,  a  long  hne  was 
showing  on  the  horizon  which  could  be  no  other  than 
the  eastward  extension  of  this  famous  and,  as  it  after- 
wards proved,  formidable  glacier. 

On  November  19,  we  had  another  hea^y  day's 
sledging,  ankle  deep  in  the  soft  snow  with  occasional 
thin  patches  of  sludg\"  saline  ice  from  which  ice  flowers 
had  recently  disappeared  tlirough  thawing,  ^Ve  only  did 
two  miles  of  relay  work  this  day  and  yet  were  quite 
exhausted  at  the  end  of  it. 

The  following  day,  November  20,  being  short  of 
meat  we  kiUed  a  seal  calf  and  cow,  and  so  replenished 
our  larder.     At  the  end  of  the  day's  sledging  I  walked 

125 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

over  about  two  miles  to  a  cliff  face,  about  six  miles 
south  of  Cape  Irizar.  The  rocks  all  along  this  part 
of  the  shore  were  formed  of  coarse  giieissic  granite,  of 
which  I  was  able  to  collect  some  specimens.  The  cliff 
was  about  one  hundred  feet  high  where  it  was  formed 
of  the  gneiss,  and  above  this  rose  a  capping  of  from 
seventy  to  eighty  feet  in  thickness  of  heavily  crevassed 
blue  glacier  ice.  There  were  here  wide  tide-cracks  be- 
tween the  sea  ice  and  the  foot  of  the  sea  cliff.  These  were 
so  wide  that  it  was  difficult  to  cross  them.  The  whole 
shore  hne  was  literally  alive  with  seals  and  seal  calves; 
there  were  over  fifty  of  them  in  a  stretch  of  about  three 
hundred  yards.  At  a  distance  of  two  miles  our  tent  was, 
of  course,  quite  out  of  sight,  and  one  had  to  be  guided 
back,  on  this  as  on  other  similiar  occasions,  chiefly  by 
one's  footprints. 

The  following  day,  November  21,  the  sledging  was 
painfully  heavy  over  thawing  saline  snow  surface,  and 
sticky  sea  ice.  We  were  only  able  to  do  two  and  two-thirds 
miles. 

On  November  22,  on  rounding  the  point  of  the  low 
ice  barrier,  thirty  to  forty  feet  high,  we  obtained  a 
good  view  of  Cape  Irizar,  and  also  of  the  Drygalski  Ice 
Barrier. 

On  November  23  we  found  that  a  mild  blizzard  was 
bloAving,  but  we  travelled  on  through  it  as  Me  could 
not  afford  to  lose  any  time.  The  blizzard  died  down 
altogether  about  3  a.m.,  and  was  succeeded  by  a  gentle 
westerly  wind  off  the  plateau.  That  evening,  after 
our  tent  had  been  put  up  and  we  had  finished  the 
day's  meal,  I  walked  over  a  mile  to  the  shore.  The 
prevailing  rock  was  still  gneissic  granite  with  large 
whitish  veins  of  aplilic  granite.  A  little  bright  green 
moss  was  growing  on  tiny  patches  of  sand  and  gravel, 
and   in   some   of   the   cracks   in   the   granite.     The   top 

126 


WANT   OF   SLEEP 

of  the  cliff  was  capped  by  blue  glacier  ice.  With  the 
help  of  steps  cut  by  my  ice-axe  I  chmbed  some  distance 
up  this  in  order  to  trj'  and  get  some  fresh  ice  for  cooking 
purjjoses,  but  close  to  the  top  of  the  slope  I  accidentally 
shpped  and  glissaded  most  unwillingly  some  distance 
down  before  I  was  able  to  check  myself  by  means  of 
the  chisel  edge  of  the  ice-axe.  ^ly  hands  were  some- 
what cut  and  bruised,  but  otherwise  no  damage  was 
done.  The  whole  of  this  ice  was  slightly  bitter;  no 
doubt  sea  spray  in  hea^y  weather  when  the  sea  was 
open  duiing  sunmier  time,  had  dashed  over  the  head- 
land, and  so  flavoured  the  ice  with  sea  salts.  At 
last  I  obtained  some  fairly  fresh  ice  in  the  form  of 
large  ice  stalactites  depending  from  an  overhanging  cliff 
of  glacier  ice.  With  these  and  my  geological  specimens 
I  trudged  back  to  the  camp. 

On  November  24,  a  strong  keen  wind  was  blowing 
off  the  plateau  from  the  west-south-west.  This  died 
down  later  on  in  the  morning  at  about  2  a.m.  and  the 
temperature  at  9  a.m.  rose  as  high  as  plus  20°  Fahr. 
We  were  all  suffering  somewhat  from  want  of  sleep,  and 
although  the  snow  surface  was  better  than  it  had  been 
for  some  little  time  we  still  found  the  work  of  sledging 
very  fatiguing.  A  three-man  sleeping-bag,  where  you 
are  wedged  in  more  or  less  tightly  against  your  mates, 
Avhere  all  snore  and  sliin  one  another  and  each  feels  on 
waking  that  he  is  more  sinned  against  than  shinning,  is 
not  conducive  to  real  rest;  and  we  rued  the  day  that  we 
chose  the  three-man  bag  in  preference  to  the  one-man 
bags.  That  afternoon  and  evening  we  slept  a  little  longer 
than  usual,  and  felt  much  refreshed  on  the  early  morning 
of  November  25. 

It  was  interesting  to  watch  at  lunch  time  the  anxious 
face  of  the  messman  for  the  week  as  he  sat  mth  his  nose 

127 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

close  to  the  outer  cover  of  the  aluminium  cooker  in 
order  to  catch  the  first  whifF  of  the  delicious  aroma 
wliich  told  that  the  tea  in  the  water  of  the  inner  cooking- 
pot  had  been  just  brought  to  the  boil.  With  the  first 
sniff  of  the  aroma  the  messman  Avould  immediately 
unscrew  the  brass  valve  of  the  Primus,  so  as  to  let  the 
air  in  and  the  Primus  lamp  down,  with  a  view  to  saving 
jjaraffin  oil. 


PROFESSOR  DAVID'S  NARRATIVE  (Continued) 

/^N  the  following  day,  November  26,  we  saw  on  look- 
^-^  ing  back  that  the  rocky  headland,  where  I  had 
collected  the  specimens  of  granite  and  moss,  was  not 
part  of  the  mainland,  but  a  small  island.  This  day 
was  rather  a  memorable  one  in  our  journey,  as  we 
reached  a  large  rocky  promontory,  wliich  we  sup- 
posed at  the  time  to  be  Cape  Irizar.  Subsequent 
observations,  however,  proved  that  we  must  already  have 
passed  Cape  Irizar,  which  was  in  aU  probability  the  small 
island  just  referred  to. 

We  had  some  good  sledging  here  over  pancake  ice 
nearly  free  from  snow  and  travelled  fast.  While 
Mackay  secured  some  seal  meat  JNIawson  and  I  ascended 
the  rocky  promontory,  climbing  at  first  over  rock, 
then  over  glacier  ice,  to  a  height  of  about  six  hundred 
feet  above  the  sea.  The  rock  was  a  pretty  red  granite 
traversed  by  large  dykes  of  black  rocks,  apparently  of 
an  alkaline  character,  belonging  to  the  phonolites  or 
tinguaites. 

From  the  top  of  the  headland  to  the  north  we  had  a 
magnificent  view  across  the  level  surface  of  sea  ice  far 
below  us.  We  saw  that  at  a  few  miles  from  the  shore 
an  enormous  iceberg,  frozen  into  the  floe,  lay  right 
across  the  path  which  we  had  intended  to  travel  in  our 
northerly  course  on  the  morrow.  To  the  north-west 
of  us  was  Geikie  Inlet  and  beyond  that  stretching  as 
far  as  the  eye  could  follow  was  the  great  Drygalski 
Glacier.    Beyond  the  Drygalski   Glacier  were  a  series 

Vol.  II.-9  129 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

of  rocky  hills.  One  of  these  was  identified  as  probably 
being  JNIount  Neumaer.  Several  mountains  could  be 
seen  further  to  the  north  of  this,  but  the  far  distance 
was  obscured  from  view  by  cloud  and  mist  so  that  we 
were  unable  to  make  out  the  outline  of  Mount  Nansen. 
It  was  evident  that  the  Drygalski  Glacier  was  bounded 
landwards  on  the  north  by  a  steep  cliff  of  dark,  highly 
jointed  rock,  and  we  were  not  a  little  concerned  to  observe 
with  our  field-glasses  that  the  surface  of  the  Drygalski 
Glacier  was  wholly  different  to  that  of  the  Nordenskjold 
Ice  Barrier.  It  was  clear  that  the  surface  of  the  Dry- 
galski (ilacier  was  formed  of  jagged  surfaces  of  ice  very 
heavily  crevassed,  and  projecting  in  the  form  of  immense 
seracs  separated  from  one  another  by  deep  undulations 
or  chasms.  It  at  once  suggested  to  my  mind  some 
scaly  dragon-like  monster  and  recalled  the  lines  of 
JNIilton  quoted  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter.  The 
"  Scaly  horror  of  his  folded  tail "  did  not  seem  enchant- 
ing even  at  this  distance  of  ten  to  fifteen  miles.  We 
could  see  that  much  of  this  glacier  was  absolutely 
impossible  for  sledging,  but  it  appeared  that  further 
eastward  the  inequalities  of  the  ice-surface  became  less 
pronounced,  and  at  the  extreme  eastward  extension, 
at  a  distance  of  some  twenty-five  to  tliirty  miles  from 
where  we  stood,  the  surface  appeared  fairly  smooth. 
After  taking  these  observations  from  our  point  of 
vantage  we  retraced  our  steps.  INIawson,  in  his  spiked 
ski-boots,  got  dovm  the  sloping  ice-sui'face  with  com- 
parative ease,  but  as  I  had  finnesko  on  I  found  it 
necessary  to  cut  steps  with  my  ice-axe  all  the  way  down 
the  glacier  ice. 

It  was  obvious  from  what  we  had  seen  looking  out 
to  sea  to  the  east  of  our  camp  that  there  were  large  bodies 
of  open  water  trending  shorewards  in  the  form  of  long 
lanes  at  no  great  distance.     The  lanes  of  water  were 

130 


DRYGALSKI GLACIER 

only  partly  frozen  over,  and  some  of  these  were  inter- 
posed between  us  and  the  Drygalski  Glacier.  Clearly 
not  a  moment  was  to  be  lost  if  we  were  to  reach  the 
Drygalski  Glacier  before  the  sea  ice  broke  up.  A 
single  strong  blizzard  would  now  have  converted  the 
whole  of  the  sea  ice  between  us  and  the  Drygalski 
Glacier  into  a  mass  of  drifting  pack.  We  obtained 
from  this  rocky  promontory  a  fine  collection  of 
geological  specimens,  and  here,  as  elsewhere,  got 
abundant  evidence  of  former  much  greater  extension 
of  the  inland  ice  sheet. 

The  folloAvdng  day,  November  27,  we  decided  to 
run  our  sledges  to  the  east  of  the  large  berg,  which  we 
had  observed  on  the  previous  day,  and  tliis  course 
apparently  would  enable  us  to  avoid  a  wide  and  ugly 
looking  tide-crack  extending  northwards  from  the  rocky 
point  at  our  previous  camp.  The  temperature  was  now 
as  high  as  from  plus  26°  to  plus  28°  Fahr.  at  mid-day, 
consequently,  the  saline  snow  and  ice  were  all  day  more 
or  less  sticky  and  slushy.    We  camped  near  the  large  berg. 

On  the  morning  of  November  28  a  mother  seal 
with  a  well-grown  baby  came  up  to  our  tent  and  sniffed 
and  snorted  around  its  skirt.  It  seemed  about  to  enter 
the  tent  when  I  hunted  it  off,  and  mother  and  baby, 
meanwhile,  made  tracks,  in  every  sense  of  the  word, 
for  the  open  water.  Then  we  packed  up  and  started 
our  sledges,  and  pulled  them  over  a  treacherous  slushy 
tide-crack,  and  then  headed  them  round  an  open  lead 
of  water  in  the  sea  ice.  At  3  a.m.  we  had  lunch  near  the 
east  end  of  the  big  berg.  Near  here  INIackay  and 
Mawson  succeeded  in  catching  and  killing  an  Emperor 
penguin,  and  took  the  breast  and  liver.  This  bird 
was  caught  close  to  a  lane  of  open  water  in  the  sea  ice. 
We  found  that  in  the  direction  of  the  berg  this  was 
thinly   frozen   over,   and   for   some   time   it   seemed   as 

131 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

though  our  progress  further  north  was  completely 
blocked.  Eventually  we  found  a  place  where  the  ice 
might  just  bear  our  sledges.  We  strengthened  this  spot 
by  laying  down  on  it  slabs  of  sea  ice  and  shovelfuls  of 
snow,  and  when  the  causeway'  was  completed — not  without 
Mackay  breaking  through  the  ice  in  one  place  and  very 
nearly  getting  a  ducking — we  rushed  our  sledges  over 
safely,  although  the  ice  was  so  thin  that  it  bent  under  their 
weight.  We  were  thankful  to  get  them  both  safely  to 
the  other  side. 

We  now  found  ourselves  amongst  some  very  high 
sastrugi  and  hard  tough  snow.  AVe  had  to  drag  the 
sledges  over  a  great  number  of  these,  which  were  nearly 
at  right  angles  to  our  course.  This  work  proved  ex- 
tremely fatiguing.  The  sastrugi  were  from  five  to  six 
feet  in  height.  As  we  were  having  dinner  at  the  end 
of  our  day's  sledging  we  heard  a  loud  report  which  we 
considered  to  be  due  to  the  opening  of  a  new  crack  in 
the  sea  ice.  We  thought  it  was  possible  that  this  crack 
was  caused  by  some  movement  of  the  great  active  Dry- 
galski  Glacier,  now  only  about  four  miles  ahead  of  us  to 
the  north. 

We  got  out  of  our  sleejiing-bag  soon  after  8  p.m. 
on  the  evening  of  the  28th,  and  started  just  before  mid- 
night. The  ice-surface  over  which  we  were  sledging 
this  day  had  a  curious  aj^pearance  resembling  rip])ling 
stalagmites,  or  what  may  be  termed  ice  marble.  This 
opacity  appeared  to  be  due  to  a  surface  enamel  of  partly 
thawed  snow.  This  surface  kept  continually  cracking 
as  we  passed  over  it  wdth  a  noise  like  that  of  a  whip 
being  cracked.  It  was  evidently  in  a  state  of  tension, 
being  contracted  by  the  cold  which  attained  its  maxi- 
mum soon  after  midnight,  for,  although  of  course  we 
had  for  many  weeks  past  been  having  the  midnight 
sun  it  was  still  so  low  in  the  heavens  towards  midnight 

132 


BITING   WIND 

that  there  was  an  appreciable  difference  in  the  tempera- 
ture between  midnight  and  the  afternoon.  This  differ- 
ence in  our  case  was  further  accentuated  by  the  cold 
nocturnal  wind  from  the  high  plateau  to  our  west. 
Tliis  wind  was  of  the  nature  of  a  land  breeze  on  a 
large  scale. 

There  were  here  two  sets  of  sastrugi,  the  principal 
set  jDarallel  to  the  jilateau  wind  and  trending  here  from 
nearly  north-west  to  south-east;  the  other  set,  caused 
by  the  blizzard  winds,  trended  from  south  to  north. 
We  were  now  getting  very  short  of  biscuits,  and  as 
a  consequence  were  seized  Avith  food  obsessions,  being 
unable  to  talk  about  an}i:hing  but  cereal  foods,  chiefly 
cakes  of  various  kinds  and  fruits.  Whenever  we  halted 
for  a  short  rest  we  could  discuss  nothing  but  the  different 
dishes  with  A\'hich  we  had  been  regaled  in  our  former 
Ufetime  at  various  famous  restaurants  and  hotels. 

The  plateau  wind  blew  keenly  and  strongly  all  day 
on  November  29.  As  we  advanced  further  to  the 
north  the  ice-surface  became  more  and  more  undulatory, 
rising  against  us  in  great  waves  hke  waves  of  the  sea. 
EAadently  these  waves  were  due  to  the  forward  move- 
ment, and  consequent  pressure  of  the  Drykalski  Glacier. 
We  had  a  fine  view  from  the  tojj  of  one  of  these  ridges 
over  the  surface  of  the  Diygalski  Glacier  to  the  edge 
of  the  inland  plateau.  Far  inland,  perhaps  forty  or 
fifty  miles  away,  we  could  see  the  great  neve  fields, 
which  fed  the  Drygalski  Glacier,  descending  in  con- 
spicuous ice  falls,  and  beyond  these  loomed  dim  moun- 
tains. At  the  end  of  this  day  we  hardly  knew  whether  we 
were  on  the  edge  of  the  sea  ice  or  on  the  thin  edge  of 
the  Drygalski  Glacier.  Probably,  I  think,  we  were  on  very 
old  sea  ice,  perhaps  representing  the  accumulations  of 
several  successive  seasons. 

It  fell  calm  at  about  9  p.m.,  but  just  before  midnight, 

133 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

November  29-30,  the  plateau  wind  returned,  blowing 
stronger  than  ever.  As  the  sun  during  the  afternoon 
had  now  considerable  heating  power  we  tried  the  ex- 
periment of  putting  snow  into  our  aluminium  cooking- 
pot,  the  exterior  of  which  by  tliis  time  was  permanently 
coated  with  greasy  lamp-black  from  the  blubber  lamp, 
and  leaving  the  pot  exposed  in  the  evening  to  the  direct 
rays  of  the  sun.  The  lamp-black,  of  course,  formed 
an  excellent  absorbent  of  the  sun's  heat-rays.  On 
getting  out  of  the  sleeping-bag  at  9  p.m.  on  November  29 
I  found  that  about  half  the  snow  I  had  put  into  the 
cooking-pot  had  been  thawed  down  by  the  sun's  heat. 
This,  of  course,  saved  both  paraffin  and  blubber.  It 
takes,  of  course,  as  much  energy  to  thaw  ice  or  snow  at  a 
temperature  of  32°  Fahr.  to  form  a  given  volume  of  water 
as  it  does  to  raise  that  water  from  32°  Falii-.  up  to  boiling- 
point.  As  our  snow  and  ice  used  for  domestic  purposes 
frequently  had  a  temperature  of  many  degrees  below 
zero,  the  heat  energy  necessary  to  thaw  it  was  greater 
than  that  required  to  raise  the  water  from  freezing-point 
to  boiling-point. 

As  we  advanced  with  our  sledge  on  the  early  morning 
of  November  30,  the  ice  ridges  fronting  us  became 
higher  and  steeper,  and  we  had  much  ado  straining 
with  all  our  might  on  the  steep  ice  slopes  to  get  the 
sledges  to  move,  and  they  skidded  a  good  deal  as  we 
dragged  them  obliquely  up  the  slopes.  The  plateau 
wind,  too,  had  freshened,  and  was  now  blowing  on  our 
port  bow  at  from  fifteen  to  twenty  miles  an  hour,  bringing 
with  it  a  good  deal  of  low  drift.  At  last,  about  10  a.m., 
the  plateau  wind  dropped  and  with  it  the  drift,  and  the 
weather  became  warm  and  sunny. 

The  glacier  now  spread  before  us  as  a  great  billowy 
sea  of  pale  green  ice,  with  here  and  there  high  embank- 
ments   of    marble-like    neve    resembling    railway    em- 

134 


ON  THE  GLACIER 

bankments.  Unfortunately  for  our  progress,  the  trend 
of  the  latter  was  nearly  at  right  angles  to  our  course. 
As  we  advanced  still  further  north  the  undulations 
became  more  and  more  pronounced,  the  embankments 
liigher  and  steeper.  These  embankments  were  now 
bounded  by  cliffs  from  forty  to  fifty  feet  in  height, 
with  overhanging  cornices  of  tough  snow.  The  cliffs 
faced  northwards.  The  deep  chasms  which  they  pro- 
duced formed  a  very  serious  obstacle  to  our  advance, 
and  we  had  to  make  some  long  detours  in  order  to  head 
them  off.  On  studying  one  of  these  chasms  it  seemed 
to  me  that  their  mode  of  origin  was  somewhat  as  follows : 
In  the  first  place  the  surface  of  the  ice  had  become 
strongly  ridged  through  forward  movement  of  the 
glacier,  with  perhaps  differential  frictional  resistance; 
the  latter  causing  a  series  of  undulations,  the  top  of 
each  ice  undulation  would  then  be  further  raised  by  an 
accumulation  of  snow  partly  carried  by  the  west-north- 
west plateau  wind,  partly  by  the  southerly  blizzard 
wind.  These  two  force  components  produced  these 
overhanging  cliffs  facing  the  north.  For  some  reason 
the  snow  would  not  lie  at  the  bottoms  of  the  troughs 
between  the  undulations.  Probably  they  were  swept 
bare  by  the  plateau  wind.  It  was  hardly  to  be  wondered 
at  that  we  were  unable  to  advance  our  sledges  more  than 
about  one  mile  and  a  half  that  day. 

The  next  day,  December  1,  the  hauling  of  our  sledges 
became  much  more  laborious.  For  half  a  day  we 
struggled  over  high  sastrugi,  hummocky  ice  ridges, 
steep  undulations  of  bare  blue  ice  with  frequent  chasms 
impassible  for  a  sledge,  unless  it  was  unloaded  and 
lowered  by  Alpine  rope.  After  struggling  on  for  a  little 
over  half  a  mile  we  decided  to  camp,  and  while  Mawson 
took  magnetic  observations  and  theodolite  angles, 
Mackay  and  I  reconnoitred  ahead  for  between  two  and 

135 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

tliree  miles  to  see  if  there  was  any  way  at  all  practicable 
for  the  sledge  out  of  these  mazes  of  chasms,  undula- 
tions and  seracs.  JNlackay  and  I  were  roped  together 
for  this  exploratory  work,  and  fell  into  about  a  score  of 
crevasses  before  we  returned  to  camp,  though  in  this 
case  we  never  actually  fell  with  our  head  and  shoulders 
below  the  lids  of  the  crevasses,  as  thej'  were  mostly 
filled  at  the  surface  with  tough  snow.  We  had  left  a 
black  signal  flag  on  top  of  a  conspicuous  ice  mound  as 
a  guide  to  us  as  to  the  whereabouts  of  the  camp,  and 
we  found  this  a  welcome  beacon  A\hen  we  started  to 
return,  as  it  was  by  no  means  an  easy  task  finding  one's 
way  across  this  storm-tossed  ice  sea,  even  when  one  was 
only  a  mile  or  two  from  the  camp.  On  our  return  we 
found  that  Mawson  was  just  completing  his  observations. 
He  found  that  the  dip  of  the  needle  here  was  2y2°  off  the 
vertical.  We  brought  the  tent  down  from  wliere  he  had 
been  taking  magnetic  observations,  and  treading  warily, 
because  of  crevasses,  set  it  up  again  close  to  our  sledge, 
and  had  lunch. 

We  noticed  in  the  case  of  the  snow  lids  over  crevasses 
that  they  were  covered  by  a  very  pretty  moss-hke 
growth  of  pointed  ice  crystals.  This  growth  was 
apparently  due  to  a  slow  upward  steaming  of  moist 
air  from  the  spaces  between  the  walls  of  the  crevasses 
below.  Possibly  during  the  day  the  air  beneath  the 
snow  lids  may  become  slightly  warmed,  and  as  the 
temperature  falls  at  night,  particularly  under  the 
influence  of  the  plateau  wind,  a  slow  percolation  of  the 
warm  air  through  the  snow  lid  may  take  place,  and  the 
small  amount  of  moisture  in  it  is  deposited  on  the 
surface  of  the  lid  on  coming  in  contact  with  the  colder 
air  outside.  This  process,  continued  from  day  to  day, 
gradually  builds  up  these  moss-like  crystals. 

That  afternoon  we  discussed  the  situation  at  some 

136 


A  RETREAT  NECESSARY 

length.  It  appeared  that  the  Drygalski  Glacier  must 
be  at  least  twenty  miles  in  width.  If  we  were  to  cross 
it  along  the  course  wliich  we  were  now  following  at  the 
rate  of  half  a  mile  every  half  day  it  would  obviously 
take  at  least  twenty  days  to  get  to  the  other  side,  and 
this  estimate  did  not  allow  for  those  unforseen  delays 
which  experience  by  this  time  had  taught  us  were  sure 
to  occur.  The  view  wliich  JNIackay  and  I  had  obtained 
of  the  glacier  ice  ahead  of  us  showed  that  our  difficulties, 
for  a  considerable  distance,  would  matenall}'  increase. 
Under  these  circumstances  we  were  reluctantly  forced  to 
the  conclusion  that  our  only  hope  of  ultimate  success  lay  in 
retreat.  We  accordingly  determined  to  drag  the  sledges 
back  off  the  glacier  on  to  the  sea  ice  by  the  way  along 
which  we  had  come. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  December  2  the  retreat 
began.  Just  before  midnight  it  had  been  clear  and 
sunny,  but  as  midnight  apjiroached  a  tliick  fog  sud- 
denly came  up  and  obscured  everything.  Consequently 
we  had  great  difficulty  in  picking  up  our  old  sledge 
tracks  as  we  retreated  over  the  glacier  ice.  The  weather 
was  still  very  tliick  and  foggy  at  3  a.m.,  but  a  little  before 
6  A.M.  the  fog  cleared  off  and  the  sun  shone  through. 
We  had  now  reached  the  southern  edge  of  the 
glacier,  and  were  back  on  the  old  undulating  sea  ice. 
We  turned  our  sledges  eastwards  following  parallel 
w^th  the  glacier  edge.  Immediately  on  our  left  rose 
large  rounded  hummocky  masses  of  ice  belonging  to 
the  Drygalski  Glacier,  and  from  fifty  to  sixty  feet  in 
height.  The  sky,  meanwhile,  had  become  again  overcast 
with  dense  cumulus  which  drifted  across  rapidly  from  a 
south-easterly  direction. 

The  following  daj^  we  still  travelled  eastwards 
parallel  to  the  southern  edge  of  the  Drygalski  Glacier. 
The  sledging  was  chiefly  over  soft   snow,   ankle  deep, 

137 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

with  occasional  high  snow  sastrugi,  and  here  and  there 
a  patch  of  rij)ple(l  sea  ice.  There  could  be  no  doubt 
about  it  being  sea  ice  tliis  time  because  in  one  place,  at 
the  foot  of  one  of  these  steep  snow  ridges,  we  noticed  a 
pool  of  water  only  thinly  frozen  over,  and  on  breaking 
the  ice  I  tasted  the  water  and  found  it  was  very  salt. 

Towards  the  end  of  this  day's  sledging  we  passed  a 
long  inlet  trending  north-westerly.  This  inlet  was  floored 
with  sea  ice,  and  made  a  long,  deep  indentation  in  the 
glacier  ice.  After  our  hoosh,  and  before  turning  into 
the  sleeping-bag,  ]\Iawson  and  1  went  on  to  the  north  over 
some  high  hummocky  ridges  of  the  Dryalski  Glacier 
to  look  ahead.  JNlawson,  after  a  while,  returned  to 
camp,  while  I  turned  north-westwards  to  explore  the 
inlet.  After  falling  into  a  few  crevasses  which  traversed 
the  great  billowy  hummocks  of  blue  glacier  ice  in  all 
directions,  I  got  down  into  the  inlet,  and  on  following  it 
north-westwards,  found  that  it  gradually  passed  into 
a  definite  glacial  river  channel,  and  became  quite  un- 
practicable  for  sledging.  It  was  quite  clear  from  the 
steeji  banks  of  this  channel,  cut  out  of  the  hard  snow 
neve  and  glacier  ice,  that  during  the  few  weeks  of  thaw 
in  this  part  of  the  Antarctic,  great  volumes  of  thaw 
water  must  rush  doA\ii  off  the  higher  parts  of  the  glacier 
towards  the  sea,  and  in  their  ])assage  they  tear  out  deep 
canyon-like  channels  in  the  glacier  ice  and  neve.  This 
channel  trended  at  first  exactly  in  the  direction  in  which 
we  wished  to  make,  but  it  was  obvious  that  it  was  an 
impossible  route  for  the  sledges. 

We  decided  on  December  4  that  we  had  better  go  on  an 
extended  reconnoitring  expedition  before  we  again  risked 
landing  our  sledge  in  a  labyrinth  of  pressure  ridges  and 
crevasses.  After  hauling  our  sledges  for  a  little  less  than 
a  mile,  and  meeting  with  steep  slopes  of  snow  dunes,  we 
halted.      While   INIackay   sewed    one   of   the   tent-poles, 

138 


REGION   OF   CREVASSES 

wliich  had  become  loosened,  back  into  its  place  in  the 
canvas  crown  which  held  the  tops  of  the  tent-poles 
together,  ]Mawson  and  I  climbed  on  to  some  hum- 
mocks a  little  north  of  the  camp  to  see  wliich  route 
would  be  best  to  follow  on  our  recomioitring  journey. 
After  lunch  we  all  three  started  with  our  ice-axes  and 
the  Alpine  rope.  We  travelled  up  a  broad  bottomed 
snow  valley  for  about  two  miles  trendmg  in  the  direction 
of  jNIount  Larsen.  Then  for  a  little  over  a  mile  beyond 
it  trended  more  to  the  right  in  the  direction  of  Mount 
Nansen.  Here  we  got  into  difficult  country,  the  snow 
surface  being  succeeded  by  steep-sided  hummocks, 
rolls  and  ridges  of  blue  glacier  ice,  with  occasional  deep 
chasms  and  very  numerous  crevasses.  We  fell  into 
numbers  of  the  latter  up  to  our  tliighs,  but  the  snow- 
lids  as  yet  were  just  strong  enough  to  stop  us  going 
deeper.  Mawson  opened  up  one  of  these  snow  lids 
with  his  ice-axe,  and  Me  noticed  that  the  Ud  was  from 
one  to  one  and  a  half  feet  thick,  while  the  crevasse  was 
thirty  feet  wide  and  of  vast  depth.  JNIuch  of  the  ground 
over  which  we  were  travelling  rang  hollow,  and  was 
evidently  only  roofed  over  by  a  tliin  layer  of  tough 
snow.  Altogether  we  travelled  about  four  miles  to  the 
north  of  our  camp,  but  could  see  no  sign  from  there 
of  any  sea  to  the  north  of  us.  Meanwliile,  ^Mackay 
diverged  somewhat  to  the  west,  chmbed  on  the  top  of  a 
high  ice  pyramid,  but  was  unable  to  see  any  trace  of 
the  sea  beyond.  We  now  returned  at  a  smart  pace 
back  to  camp,  arri^-ing  about  9  a.:m.  We  were  all 
pretty  tired,  and,  as  usual  before  entering  the  tent,  we 
took  off  our  spiked  ski-boots  so  as  to  avoid  puncturing 
the  waterproof  floorcloth,  and  put  on  finnesko.  Hoosh 
was  prepared,  and  we  had  a  good  meal  of  it,  as  well  as 
of  fried  seal  meat  with  blubber  and  seal  oil. 

It  was  evident  now  that  even  if  we  were  to  succeed 

139 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

in  crossing  the  Urygalski  Glacier,  the  passage  would 
occupy  a  good  many  days,  even  under  the  most  favour- 
able circumstances,  and  our  provisions  were  running 
very^  short.  After  we  tuiished  our  hoosh,  ^Slawson,  with 
the  field-glasses,  sighted  a  seal  near  to  the  big  berg  to 
the  south  of  us,  which  we  hiul  passed  some  five  days 
previously.  We  decided  that  we  would  go  after  this 
seal  the  next  day;  meanwhile,  the  seal  disajjpeared. 
Fearing  that  a  blizzard  might  spring  up  on  the  following 
day,  I  proposed  to  go  that  evening  out  to  the  berg  in 
search  of  seals,  but  ]Mackay  kindly  volunteered  instead 
and  started  off  with  his  riick-sack  and  ice-axe  and  a 
small  allowance  of  provisions,  consisting  of  some  cooked 
seal  meat,  biscuits  and  chocolate.  He  had  a  long 
journey  before  him.  AVHiile  he  was  gone  1  was  chiefly 
occupied  m  dividing  up  our  rations  into  half-ration  lots. 
At  5  P.M.  I  was  attracted  by  the  notes  of  a  penguin 
behind  an  ice  mound  at  no  great  distance.  Itousing 
!Mawson,  we  both  went  in  jjursuit  and  after  a  long  and 
severe  chase,  captured  an  Adelie  penguin. 

At  about  midnight,  December  4-5,  ISIackay  re- 
turned to  camj)  after  his  fourteen  miles'  tramp  over  the 
sea  ice.  He  brought  back  with  him  a  most  welcome 
addition  to  our  larder  in  the  shape  of  over  thirty  pounds 
of  seal  meat,  liver  and  seal  blubber.  He  reported  that 
he  had  had  great  difficulty  in  crossing  the  large  ice- 
crack  where  we  had  constructed  the  causeway  for  our 
sledge  some  five  days  previously,  and  he  said  that  it 
would  now  have  been  impossible  to  have  got  the  sledge 
over  it.  Mackay  had  been  up  over  seventeen  hours, 
and  had  been  sledging,  travelling  over  heavy  ice,  and 
carrying  his  heavy  load  of  seal  meat  wth  only  short 
intervals  for  meals.  He  had  travelled  a  distance  of 
about  twenty-four  miles,  and  of  course  under  the  cir- 
cumstances was  much  exhausted  and  badly  in  need  of 

140 


A  NEW  ROUTE 

a  long  rest.  By  securing  the  so  much  needed  additional 
food-sui^ply,  he  had  rendered  us  an  extremely  important 
service.  It  now,  of  course,  became  necessary  to  give 
him  the  needed  rest  on  the  following  day.  Accorduigly, 
the  earlier  jiart  of  December  6  we  spent  in  the  sleeping- 
bag. 

Soon  after  midnight,  December  5-6,  we  left  our  camp 
on  the  south  side  of  the  Drykalski  Glacier,  and  struck 
across  the  liigh  ridges  of  blue  ice  into  the  small  valley 
in  the  glacier  \\hich  we  had  prospected  two  days  pre- 
\'iously.  As  usual  a  keen  wind  was  blowmg  off  the 
plateau  at  this  time  of  the  morning,  but  the  tempera- 
ture soon  rose  to  plus  23'  Falu'.  at  7.15  a.m.  The  sky 
was  overcast  with  heavy  stratus  and  cumulus  clouds, 
especially  in  the  direction  of  Cape  Wasliington.  We 
passed  over  a  considerable  number  of  crevasses  without 
any  serious  accident.  The  day's  sledging  was  hea\y 
on  account  of  the  strongly  undulating  surface  of  the 
ice  and  the  quantity  of  soft  snow  in  the  ice  valley  on  the 
surface  of  the  Drygalski  Glacier. 

The  following  day,  December  7,  was  also  dull  and 
lowering  ■with  verj'^  dense  cumulus  clouds  over  Cape 
W^ashington  and  ^Mounts  INIelbourne  and  Nansen.  W^e 
inferred  that  tliis  dense  cumulus  was  due  to  the  presence 
of  open  water  between  the  Drygalski  Glacier  and  Cape 
Wasliington,  and  were  not  a  little  anxious  as  to  whether, 
in  the  event  of  the  sea  ice  having  all  drifted  out  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Drygalski  Glacier,  it  would  be  possible 
for  us  to  travel  shorewards  on  the  surface  of  the  glacier 
itself,  when  we  got  to  the  other  side.  W^e  encountered 
many  precipitous  slopes  from  thirty  to  forty  feet  deep, 
often  with  overhanging  cornices,  barring  our  northward 
progress  like  those  already  met  with  in  the  part  of 
the  glacier  from  which  Me  had  retreated.     These  over- 

141 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

hanging  cliffs,  however,  were  not  quite  as  serious  as 
tliose  wliich  we  had  left  beliind,  and  by  making  con- 
siderable detours  we  managed  to  circumvent  them.  At 
last  we  seemed  to  have  got  amongst  an  impassable 
belt  of  liigh  crevassed  ice  ridges  with  precipitous 
chasms  between.  After  a  good  deal  of  reconnoitring 
ahead  a  clue  out  of  the  labyrinth  was  discovered 
in  the  form  of  a  series  of  high  snow  ridges  which  led 
backwards  and  for\vards,  in  and  out,  amongst  the 
high-pressure  ridges,  and  eventually  enabled  us  to  land 
our  sledges  in  a  broad  crevassed  valley  on  the  glacier 
surface. 

After  the  hoosh  at  the  end  of  our  day's  sledging, 
JNIawson  and  I  walked  about  two  miles,  looking  out 
for  a  track  for  the  next  morning.  The  outlook  was  by 
no  means  encouraging,  as  the  surface  still  bristled  with 
huge  ice  undulations  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach. 
It  was  just  as  though  a  stormy  sea  had  suddenly  been 
frozen  solid,  with  the  troughs  between  its  large  waves 
here  and  there  partly  filled  \vith  snow,  while  the  crests 
of  the  waves  were  raised  by  hard  ridges  of  drift  snow, 
terminating  in  overhanging  cliffs,  facing  the  north.  It 
was  obvious,  too,  that  the  glacier  ice  over  which  we  would 
have  to  travel,  was  still  very  heavily  crevassed.  As 
we  returned,  a  mild  blizzard  sprang  up  from  the 
south-south-west,  bringing  low  drift  with  it.  The 
blizzard  cleared  off  in  about  an  hour  and  a  half,  and 
the  sun  came  out  strong  and  hot,  and  rapidly  thawed  the 
snow  on  our  tent  and  on  the  food-bags  stored  on  our 
sledges. 

The  follo-n^ng  day,  December  8,  we  dug  away  the 
drift  snow  piled  by  the  bhzzard  against  our 
sledges,  and  were  pleased  to  find  that  the  day  was 
beautifully   fine   and   sunny   Avith   a   light   breeze   from 

142 


OPEN   WATER  AGAIN 

the  west-south-west.  The  sledging  was  very  heavy 
up  and  down  steep  ice  slopes  with  much  soft  snow 
between. 

jSIawson  had  a  slight  attack  of  snow  bhndness  on 
December  9.  The  day  was  so  warm  that  we  even 
felt  it  oppressive,  the  temperature  at  midnight  being 
as  high  as  plus  19°  Fahr.  The  glacier  ice  kept  cracking 
from  time  to  time  with  sharp  reports.  Possibly  this 
may  have  been  due  to  the  expansion  of  the  ice 
under  the  influence  of  the  hot  sun.  At  one  spot  the 
sledges  had  to  be  dragged  up  a  grade  of  1  in  3  over 
smooth  blue  glacier  ice.  This  was  exceedingly  heavy 
work.  At  last,  when  we  were  near  to  our  time  for 
camping,  oSIackay,  on  going  on  a  short  distance  ahead 
to  reconnoitre  with  the  field-glasses,  sighted  open  water 
on  the  northern  edge  of  the  Drygalski  Ice  Barrier,  about 
three  to  four  miles  distant.  He  announced  his 
discovery  with  shouts  of  edXaTza,  edXaTza,  which  thrilled 
us  now  as  of  old  they  thrilled  the  Ten  Thousand.  It 
was  no  sparkling  waters  of  the  Euxine  that  had  met  liis 
gaze,  but  a  Black  Sea  nevertheless,  for  so  it  appeared 
as  its  inky  waves  heaved  under  the  leaden  sky.  But 
what  a  joy  to  have  reached  once  more  that  friendly 
water  world  that  went  up  by  many  a  creek  and  river  to 
our  homes.  It  was  now  clear  to  us  that  we  could  not 
hope  for  sea  ice  over  which  to  sledge  westwards  to  the 
shore,  where  we  proposed  to  make  our  final  depot  before 
attempting  the  ascent  of  the  great  inland  plateau  in  order 
to  reach  the  INIagnetic  Pole. 

During  the  day  we  were  cheered  by  a  visit  from 
several  snow  petrels,  which  flew  around  our  camp,  as 
well  as  from  three  skua  guUs.  Mawson  managed  to 
snare  one  of  the  skuas  with  a  fishing-line,  but  it  got 
away  when  he  was  hauling  in  the  line.     Our  sledging 

143 


THE  HEART  OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

that  day  was  not  quite  so  heavy ;  the  ice  undulations  were 
less  formidable,  and  the  belts  of  snow  between  became 
wider  and  firmer.  Just  after  lunch  a  beautiful  Wilson's 
petrel  flew  around  us. 

December  10  saw  us  still  struggUng  to  cross  the 
Drygalski  Glacier.  We  could  see  that  we  were  now  on 
a  pretty  high  ridge,  but  the  highest  part  of  the  glacier 
now  lay  to  the  south  and  therefore  behind  us.  We 
were  much  rejoiced  towards  the  end  of  the  day's 
sledging  to  find  ourselves  at  last  off  the  true  glacier 
type  of  surface,  and  on  to  what  may  be  described  as 
an  undulating  barrier  type.  This  improvement  of 
the  surface  to  our  west  enabled  us  to  do  what  we  had 
been  longing  to  do  for  the  last  six  days,  turn  our  sledge 
westwards.  At  first  we  had  to  incline  somewhat  to 
the  north-west  in  order  to  skirt  round  some  liigh  ice 
ridges.  Then,  after  making  some  northing,  we  were 
able  to  go  nearly  due  west.  The  snow  surface  was  largely 
of  the  pie-crvist  type;  our  ski-boots  broke  through  it  at 
every  step  and  we  sank  in  up  to  our  ankles.  At  inter- 
vals we  still  crossed  low  ridges  of  solid  glacier  ice, 
traversed  by  crevasses.  All  the  crevasses  were  more 
or  less  roofed  over  with  tough  snow  lids.  These  lids 
sometimes  were  slightly  in  relief,  or  sometimes  showed 
slight  depressions  in  the  general  surface.  In  such 
areas  the  snow  lids  rung  hollow  as  the  sledges  travelled 
over  them.  We  found  the  snow  lids  always  most 
treacherous  close  to  either  wall  of  the  crevasse,  and 
we  frequently  fell  partially  through  at  such  spots,  but 
had  no  very  bad  falls  in  this  part  of  the  glacier. 

The  following  day.  December  11,  we  had  a  fine  view 
of  "  Terra  Xova  "  Bay,  and  as  far  as  could  be  judged 
the  edge  of  the  Drygalski  Ice  Barrier  on  the  north  was 
now  scarcely  a  mile  distant.     We  were  much  surprised 

144 


IN  A  CREVASSE 

at  the  general  appearance  of  the  outHne  of  the  Ice 
Barrier  coastal  ice  and  coast-line  ahead  of  us.  It  did 
not  agree,  as  far  as  we  could  judge,  with  the  shape  of 
this  region  as  shown  on  the  Admiralty  chart,  and 
we  could  see  no  certain  indication  whatever  of  what 
was  called,  on  the  chart,  "  the  low,  sloping  shore." 
Accordingly  we  halted  a  little  earlier  than  usual  in 
order  to  reconnoitre.  There  was  a  conspicuous  ice 
mound  about  half  a  mile  to  the  north-west  of  this 
camp.  Mackay  started  off  with  the  field-glasses  for  a 
general  look  round  from  this  point  of  vantage.  Mawson 
started  changing  his  plates  in  the  sleeping-bag,  while  I 
prepared  to  go  out  with  my  sketch-book  and  get  an 
outline  panoramic  view  of  the  grand  coast  ranges  now 
in  sight.  Crevasses  of  late  had  been  so  few  and  far 
between  that  I  thought  it  was  an  unnecessary  pre- 
caution to  take  my  ice-axe  with  me,  but  I  had  scarcely 
gone  more  than  six  yards  from  the  tent,  when  the  lid 
of  a  crevasse  suddenly  collapsed  under  me  at  a  point 
where  there  was  absolutely  no  outward  or  visible  sign 
of  its  existence,  and  let  me  down  suddenly  nearly  up  to 
my  shoulders.  I  only  saved  myself  from  going  right 
down  by  throwing  my  arms  out  and  staying  myself  on 
the  snow  lid  on  either  side.  The  Hd  was  so  rotten  that 
I  dared  not  make  any  move  to  extricate  myself,  or  I 
might  have  been  precipitated  into  the  abyss.  For- 
tunately INIawson  was  close  at  hand,  and  on  my  calling 
to  him,  he  came  out  of  our  sleeping-bag,  and  bringing 
an  ice-axe,  chipped  a  hole  in  the  firm  ice  on  the  edge  of 
the  crevasse  nearest  to  me.  He  then  inserted  the  cliisel 
edge  of  the  ice-axe  in  the  hole  and  holding  on  to  the  pick 
point,  swung  the  handle  towards  me:  grasping  this,  I 
was  able  to  extricate  myself  and  climbed  out  on  to  the 
solid  ice. 

It  was  a  beautiful  day,  the  coast-line  showing  up 

Vol.  n.— w  145 


THE  HEART  OF    THE  ANTARCTIC 

very  finely,  and  I  was  able  to  get  from  the  ice  mound 
a  sketch  of  the  mountains.  JNIawson  also  took  three 
photographs,  making  a  panoramic  view  of  this  part  of 
the  coast.  He  was  able,  also,  to  get  a  valuable  series  of 
angles  wth  the  theodolite,  which  showed  that  the  shape 
of  the  coast-line  here  necessitated  serious  modification  of 
the  existing  chart. 


PROFESSOR  DAMD'S  NARRATIVE  (Continued) 

Die   schonste   Jungfrau   sitzet 
Dort  oben  wunderbar, 
Ihr  goldnes  Geschmeide  blitzet, 
Sie  Kammt  ihr  goldnes  Haar. 

Sie  Kammt  es  mit  goldenem  Kamme, 
Und  singt  ein  Lied  dabei; 
Das  hat  ein  wimdersamej 
Gewaltige  melodei. 

Heine. 

"C^AR  beyond  the  golden  mountains  to  the  north  and 
*■  west  lay  our  goal,  but  as  yet  we  knew  not  whether 
we  were  destined  to  fail  or  succeed.  JMeanwhile  no  time 
was  to  be  lost  in  hurrj^ing  on  and  preparing  for  a  dash 
on  to  the  plateau,  if  we  were  to  deserve  success. 

The  following  day,  December  12,  we  sledged  on  for 
half  a  mile  until  we  were  a  little  to  the  west  of  the  con- 
spicuous ice  mound  previously  described.  We  con- 
cluded that  as  this  ice  mound  commanded  such  a 
general  view  of  the  surrounding  country,  it  must  itself 
be  a  conspicuous  object  to  any  one  approaching  the 
Drygalski  Glacier  by  sea  from  the  north;  and  so  we 
decided  that  as  there  was  still  no  trace  of  the  "  low, 
sloping  shore "  of  the  chart,  and  that  as  the  spot  at 
which  we  had  now  arrived  was  very  near  to  the  area 
so  named  on  the  chart,  we  would  make  our  depot  here. 
We  intended  to  leave  at  this  depot  one  of  our  sledges 
with  any   spare  equipment,   a   httle   food,   and   all  our 

147 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

geological  specimens,  and  proceed  thence  shorewards 
and  inland  with  one  sledge  only.  \Ve  estimated  that  we 
still  had  fully  220  miles  to  travel  from  this  depot  on 
the  Drygalski  Glacier  to  the  Magnetic  Pole.  It  was, 
therefore,  necessary  now  to  make  preparations  for  a 
journey  there  and  back  of  at  least  440  miles.  We 
thought  that  with  detours  the  journey  might  possibly 
amount  to  500  miles. 

We  could  see,  even  from  our  distance  of  from 
twenty  to  thirty  miles  from  the  shore-hne,  that  we 
had  no  light  task  before  us  in  order  to  win  a  way  on 
to  the  high  inland  plateau.  Before  we  knew  that 
the  whole  of  the  sea  ice  had  gone  out  between  us 
and  Mount  Melbourne,  we  had  contemplated  the  pos- 
sibility of  travelling  further  northwards  along  the 
coast  on  sea  ice,  down  to  a  spot  marked  on  the  chart  as 
Gerlache  Inlet.  This  inlet  we  now  saw  was  situated 
amongst  a  wilderness  of  high  sharp  jagged  mountain 
peaks  rising  to  heights  of  from  6000  to  8000  ft.  above 
sea-level,  and  as  it  could  now  be  approached  only  from 
the  land,  it  was  now  practically  inaccessible.  Nearer 
to  us,  and  to  the  north-west  of  our  position  on  the 
Drygalski  Ice  Barrier,  was  the  giant  form  of  Mount 
Nansen,  one  of  the  grandest  and  most  imposing  of  all 
the  mountains  seen  by  us  in  the  Antarctic.  Further  to 
the  left  and  nearly  due  west  of  us  was  another  fine 
dark  mountain  massif,  Blount  Larsen.  Between  Mount 
Larsen  and  ^Mount  Nansen  was  a  vast  glacier  with  a 
rugged  surface,  steep  ice  falls  and  large  crevasses. 
About  midway  between  Mounts  Larsen  and  Nansen  was 
a  huge  nunatak  of  black  rock,  rising  abruptly  from 
the  ice  surface  at  a  point  several  miles  inland  from  the 
shore-line.  Further  to  the  left  of  Mount  Larsen  was 
another  glacier  less  formidable  in  appearance  and 
smaller  in  size  than  the  Mount  Nansen  Glacier.     This 

148 


SEAL  AND   PENGUIN   MEAT 

terminated  near  the  coast  in  rather  a  steep  slope,  and 
gradually  became  confluent  with  the  Drygalski  Glacier. 
To  the  south  of  this  glacier,  wliich  may  be  termed  the 
JNIount  Larsen  Glacier,  was  another  great  mountain 
massif  with  ^Mount  Belligshausen  on  the  north  and 
JNIount  Neumaer  on  the  south.  The  foot-liils  of  Blount 
Neumaer  terminated  in  steep  precipices  forming  the 
northern  wall  of  the  Drygalski  Glacier. 

Our  first  business  was  to  lay  in  a  stock  of  provisions 
sufficient  to  last  us  for  our  500  miles  of  further  journeying. 
jVlackay  started  for  a  small  inlet  about  a  mile  and  a  half 
distant  from  our  camp,  where  he  found  a  number  of 
seals  and  Emperor  and  Adelie  penguins.  He  killed 
some  seals  and  Emperor  penguins,  and  loaded  a  good 
supply  of  seal  steak,  blubber,  liver  and  penguin  steak 
and  liver  on  to  the  sledge.  In  the  course  of  his  hunting, 
he  fell  through  an  ice  bridge,  at  a  tide-crack,  up  to  his 
waist  in  the  water.  INIawson  and  I  went  out  to  meet  him 
when  the  sledge  was  loaded,  and  helped  to  drag  it  back  to 
camp.  We  found  it  very  hot  in  the  tent,  the  weather 
being  fine  and  sunny.  It  was  dehghtful  to  be  able  at 
last  to  rest  our  weary  limbs  after  the  many  weeks  of 
painful  toil  over  the  sea  ice  and  the  Drygalski  Glacier. 

We  started  cooking  our  meat  for  the  sledging  trip  on 
the  following  day,  December  13,  our  intention  being  to 
take  with  us  provisions  for  seven  weeks,  in  addition  to 
equipment,  including  scientific  instruments,  &c.  We 
estimated  that  the  total  weight  would  amount  to  about 
670  lb.  We  were  doubtful,  in  our  then  stale  and  weak- 
ened condition,  whether  we  should  be  able  to  pull  such 
a  load  over  the  deep  loose  snow  ahead  of  us,  and  then 
drag  it  up  the  steep  ice  slopes  of  the  great  glaciers  which 
guarded  the  route  to  the  plateau. 

The  sun  was  so  hot  that  it  started  melting  the 
fat  out  of  our  pemmican  bags,  so  that  the  fat  actually 

149 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

oozed  through  not  only  the  canvas  of  the  bags  them- 
selves, but  also  tlirough  the  thick  brown  canvas  of  the 
large  fortnightly  food-bags,  which  formed  a  sort 
of  tank  for  containing  the  pemmican  bags,  and  we  found 
it  necessary  at  once  to  shade  the  food-bags  from  the  sun 
by  piling  our  Burberry  garments  over  them.  Leather 
straps,  tar  rope,  tins,  sledge  harness,  lamp-black  off  the 
blubber  cooker,  warmed  by  the  rays  of  the  sun,  all 
commenced  to  sink  themselves  more  or  less  rapidly  into 
the  neve. 

We  unpacked  and  examined  both  sledges,  and 
found  that  of  the  two,  the  runners  of  the  Duff  sledge 
were  the  less  damaged.  As  the  result  of  the  rough 
treatment  to  wliich  it  had  recently  been  subjected,  one 
of  the  iron  brackets  of  this  sledge  was  broken,  but  we 
replaced  it  with  a  sound  one  from  the  discarded  Christmas 
Tree  sledge. 

The  following  day,  December  14,  we  were  still  busj'- 
preparing  for  the  great  trek  on  the  morrow.  Mackay 
was  busy  cooking  Emperor  penguin  and  seal  meat  for 
the  plateau  journey;  Mawson  was  employed  in  trans- 
ferring the  scientific  instrument  boxes  and  the  Venesta 
boxes  in  which  our  Primus  lamp  and  other  light  gear 
were  packed  from  the  Clii'istmas  Tree  sledge  on  to  the 
DufF  sledge.  He  also  scraped  the  runners  of  the  sledge 
with  pieces  of  broken  glass  in  order  to  make  their 
surfaces  as  smooth  as  possible.  I  was  busy  fixing  up 
depot  flags,  writing  letters  to  the  Conunander  of  the 
Nimrod,  Lieutenant  Shackleton,  and  my  family,  and 
fixing  up  a  milk  tin  to  serve  as  a  post  office  on  to  the 
depot  flag-pole.  When  all  our  preparations  were 
completed  we  drew  the  Christmas  Tree  sledge  with 
some  of  our  spare  clothing,  our  blubber  cooker,  a  biscuit 
tin  with  a  few  broken  biscuits,  and  all  our  geological 
specimens  to  the  top  of  the  ice  mound,  about  a  quarter 

150 


ANOTHER  BLIZZARD 

of  a  mile  distant.  On  reaching  the  top  of  the  mound 
we  cut  trenches  with  our  ice-axes  in  which  to  embed 
the  runners  of  the  sledge,  fixed  the  runners  in  these 
grooves,  piled  the  cliipped  ice  on  top,  then  lashed  to 
the  sledge,  very  carefully,  the  flag-pole  about  six  feet 
high,  with  the  black  flag  displayed  on  the  top  of  it. 
The  wmd  blew  keenly  off"  the  plateau  befoi-e  our  labours 
were  completed.  We  aU  felt  quite  sorry  and  downcast 
at  parting  with  this  sledge,  which  by  this  time  seemed 
to  us  hke  a  bit  of  home.  We  then  returned  to  camp. 
Just  previous  to  depoting  this  sledge,  3Iackay  fixed 
another  small  depot  flag  close  to  the  open  sea  a  few 
yards  back  from  the  edge  of  the  ice  cliff. 

Soon  after  we  had  turned  into  our  sleeping-bag,  a 
gentle  blizzard  started  to  blow  from  west  by  south. 
This  continued  aU  night,  increasing  in  intensity  in  the 
morning.  We  were  able  to  see  great  whale-backed 
clouds,  very  much  hke  those  AN^ith  which  we  had  been 
familiar  over  JNIount  Erebus,  forming  over  Blount 
Nansen.  As  tliis  blizzard  wind  was  blowing  partly 
against  us,  we  decided  that  we  would  wait  until  it  had 
either  slackened  ofi*  or  decreased  in  force. 

The  whole  of  the  next  day,  unfortunately,  the 
blizzard  continued.  The  sun  was  very  hot,  and  as  the 
result  of  its  heat  we  were  to-day  for  the  first  time 
subject  to  a  new  trouble.  The  blizzard,  of  course, 
drifted  snow  all  over  our  tent;  and  a  strong  thaw  set 
in  on  the  side  of  it  ^\hich  faced  the  sun.  The  \\ind, 
flapping  the  canvas  of  the  tent  against  the  tent-poles, 
brought  the  thaw  water  through  on  to  the  poles  facing 
the  sun.  Inside  the  tent,  however,  the  temperature  was 
just  below  freezing-point,  and  as  the  water  started  to 
trickle  down  the  poles  it  froze.  With  the  flapping  of 
the  tent  backwards  and  forwards  against  the  tent- 
poles,  the  small  ridge  of  ice  on  the  upper  surface  of  each 

151 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

tent-pole  became  drawn  out  into  sharp,  saw-like  teeth, 
and  these  started  cutting  through  the  canvas.  All 
through  tliis  day,  consequently,  we  had  to  be  con- 
tinually gettnig  out  of  the  sleeping-bag  and  running  our 
hands  down  the  tent-poles  so  as  to  rub  off  the  ice  teeth. 

The  bhzzard  continued  till  midnight  of  December 
15-16,  when  its  force  markedly  decreased.  We  break- 
fasted accordingly  just  after  midnight.  I  dug  out  the 
sledge  from  the  snow  which  had  drifted  over  it,  and 
JVIackay  cached  some  seal  meat  in  an  adjoining  ice 
mouth.  At  last,  about  7  a.m.,  we  made  a  start  and  were 
delighted  to  find  that,  chiefly  as  the  result  of  the  tlu-ee 
days'  rest  in  camp,  we  were  able  to  pull  our  sledge — 
weighing  about  670  lb. — witli  comparative  ease.  The 
snow,  though  soft,  had  become  crusted  over  the  sur- 
face tlirough  the  thaw  brought  on  by  the  blizzard, 
followed  by  freezing  during  the  succeeding  cold  night. 
The  sledging  was  certainly  heavy,  but  not  nearly  so 
distressing  as  that  which  we  had  recently  experienced 
in  crossing  the  Drygalski  Glacier.  The  "  tablecloth  was 
being  laid  "  on  the  top  of  Mount  Nansen  in  the  form  of 
a  remarkable  flattish  thin  white  fleecy  cloud.  It 
looked  as  though  a  high-level  blizzard  was  blowing 
over  the  summit.  We  steered  towards  the  great  black 
nunatak  midway  between  Mount  Nansen  and  IMount 
Larsen,  as  INIawson  and  Mackay  both  considered  that 
in  this  direction  la}^  our  cliief  hope  of  finding  a  prac- 
tical route  to  the  high  plateau. 

On  December  17  we  had  a  very  interesting  day. 
The  sledging  was  rather  heavy,  being  chiefly  over  soft 
snow  and  pie-crust  snow.  It  was  difficult  to  decide 
sometimes  whether  we  were  on  fresh-water  ice  or  on  sea 
ice.  Here  and  there  we  crossed  ice  ridges,  evidently 
pressure  ridges  of  some  kind.  These  would  be  traversed 
by  crevasses  which  showed  the  ice  in  such  places  to  be 

152 


AN  ICE  BRIDGE 

at  least  thirty  to  forty  feet  in  thickness.  Close  to  our 
final  camping-ground  for  the  day  was  a  long  shallow 
valley  or  barranca;  it  was  from  one  hundred  and  twenty 
to  one  hundred  and  thirty  yards  in  width.  The  near  side 
was  steep,  though  not  too  steep  for  us  to  have  let  our 
sledge  down;  but  the  far  side  was  precipitous,  being 
bounded  by  an  overhanging  cliff  from  twenty  to  thirty 
feet  high.  The  floor  of  tliis  vaUey  was  deeply  and 
heavily  crevassed.  This  sunken  valley,  therefore, 
formed  a  serious  obstacle  to  our  advance. 

While  Mackay  was  preparing  the  hoosh  Mawson 
travelled  to  the  right,  and  I  to  the  left  along  this  valley 
seeking  for  a  possible  crossing  place.  At  last  Mawson 
found  a  narrow  spot  where  there  had  been  an  ice  bridge 
over  the  valley,  but  this  had  become  cracked  through 
at  the  centre.  It  was  nevertheless  strong  enough 
to  bear  our  sledge.  Near  this  ice  bridge  Mawson 
stated  that  he  noticed  muddy  material  containing 
what  appeared  to  be  foraminifera,  squeezed  up  from 
below.  The  day  had  been  calm  and  clear,  and  we 
were  able  to  get  detailed  sketches  of  this  part  of  the 
coast  range. 

The  following  day  we  made  for  the  ice  bridge  with 
our  sledge,  and  found  that  the  crack  crossing  it  had 
opened  to  a  width  of  eighteen  inches  during  the 
night.  The  far  side  had  become  too,  somewhat  higher 
than  the  near  side.  We  had  httle  difficulty  in  getting 
the  sledge  over,  and  after  crossing  several  other  cracks 
in  the  ice  and  neve  without  mishap  reached  once  more 
a  fairly  level  surface.  A  light  plateau  wind  was  now 
blowing  from  off  the  Mount  Nansen  glacier.  The  hard 
snow  surface  was  furrowed  by  two  very  definite  sets  of 
sastiTjgi,  one  set  coming  from  a  south-westerly  direction, 
and  apparently  caused  by  blizzard  wind,  the  other 
from    nearly    north-west.      The    latter    were    evidently 

153 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

due  to  strong  ruslics  ol"  cold  air  from  the  high  plateau 
down  the  broad  valley  occupied  by  the  Blount  Nansen 
glacier.  That  day  we  passed  over  a  series  of  pressure 
ridges  with  their  steeper  sides  directed  towards  the 
north-west.  At  the  bottom  of  these  steep  slopes  the 
ice  was  often  crevassed,  and  sometimes  we  had  some  little 
difficulty  in  crossing  them.  They  were  probably  due  to 
pressure  from  the  Drygalski  Glacier. 

At  lunch  time,  soon  after  midnight,  we  reached 
some  very  interesting  glacial  moraines  in  the  form 
of  large  to  small  blocks,  mostly  of  eruptive  rock,  em- 
bedded in  the  ice.  It  was  probable,  from  their  general 
distribution,  that  they  formed  part  of  an  old  moraine 
of  Mount  Nansen,  though  now  about  fii'teen  miles  in 
advance  of  the  present  glacier  front.  A  conspicuous 
rock  amongst  the  boulders  was  a  greenish-grey  to  green- 
ish-black diorite,  very  rich  in  sphene.  The  brown  crystals 
of  sphene  were  frequently  intercrystallised  with  the 
felspars,  and  gave  the  rock  a  veiy  pretty  appearance. 
Small  fragments  of  sandstone  and  clay  shale  were  also 
represented  in  these  moraines.  The  larger  blocks  were 
up  to  seven  feet  in  diameter,  and  formed  chiefly  of 
reddish  porphyritic  granite.  We  collected  a  nimiber 
of  specimens  from  this  moraine. 

Fine  rolls  of  cumulus  clouds  were  gathering  to  our 
north-east.  The  day  was  calm  with  occasional  gleams 
of  sunshine.  After  the  plateau  wind  had  died  down 
about  2  P.M.  it  commenced  to  snow  a  little,  the  snow 
coming  from  between  south-west  and  west-south-west. 

At  midnight  on  December  19  we  started  sledging 
in  the  falling  snow,  guided  partly  by  the  direction  of 
the  wind,  partly  by  that  of  the  pressure  ridges  and 
crevasses,  occasional!}^  taking  compass  bearings.  Before 
we  had  gone  far  we  reached  a  tide-crack  with  open 
water  three  to  four  feet  wide.     There  was  also  a  width 

154 


MAWSON  IN  A  CREVASSE 

of  about  eighteen  feet  of  recently  formed  thin  ice  at  this 
tide-crack.  We  tasted  the  water  in  tliis  crack  and  found 
that  it  was  distinctly  salt.  It  was  clear  then  that  at 
tliis  part  of  our  journey  we  were  traveUing  over  sea 
ice.  About  half  a  mile  further  on  we  reached  another 
open  tide-crack,  and  had  to  make  a  considerable  detour 
in  order  to  get  over  it.  The  surface  of  the  ice  was  now 
thawing,  and  we  trudged  through  a  good  deal  of  slushy 
snow,  with  here  and  there  shallow  pools  of  water  as 
blue  as  the  Blue  Grotto  of  Capri.  On  the  far  side  of 
this  second  tide-crack,  and  beyond  the  blue  pools,  we 
reached  a  large  pressure  ridge  forming  a  high  and  steep 
scarped  slope  barring  our  progress.  Its  height  was 
about  eighty  feet.  There  was  nothing  for  it,  if  we  were 
to  go  forward,  but  to  drag  our  heavy  sledge  up  this 
steep  slope.  It  was  extremely  exhausting  woi'k,  and 
we  were  forced  to  halt  a  few  times,  and  had  to  take  the 
sledge  occasionally  somewhat  obliquely  up  the  slope 
where  it  was  very  steep.  In  such  cases  the  sledge 
frequently  skidded.  Our  troubles  were  increased  by 
the  fact  that  this  ice  slope  was  traversed  by  numerous 
crevasses,  which  became  longer  and  wider  the  further  we 
advanced  in  this  direction. 

At  last  we  got  to  the  slope,  only  to  see  in  the  dim 
light  that  there  were  a  succession  of  similar  slopes  ahead 
of  us,  becoming  continually  higher  and  steeper.  The  ice, 
too,  became  a  perfect  network  of  crevasses,  some  of  which 
were  partly  open,  but  most  of  them  covered  over  with 
snow  lids.  Suddenly,  when  crossing  one  of  these  snow 
lids,  just  as  he  was  about  to  reach  the  firm  ice  on  the  other 
side,  there  was  a  slight  crash  and  IVIawson  instantly  dis- 
appeared from  sight.  Fortunately  the  toggle  at  the  end 
of  his  sledge  rope  held,  and  he  was  left  swinging  in  the 
empty  space  between  the  walls  of  the  crevasse,  being 
suspended  by  his  harness  attached  to  the  sledge  rope. 

155 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Mackay  and  I  hung  on  to  the  rope  in  case  it  should 
part  at  the  toggle,  where  it  was  somewhat  worn.  Mean- 
while, Mawson  called  out  from  below  to  pass  him  down 
the  Alpine  rope.  Leaving  Mackay  to  keep  hold  of  the 
toggle  end  of  JVIawson's  harness  rope,  1  hurried  back  to 
the  sledge,  which  was  about  ten  feet  behind,  and  just 
as  I  was  trying  to  disengage  a  coil  of  rope  Mawson 
called  out  that  he  felt  he  was  going.  1  ran  back 
and  helped  JNIackay  to  keep  a  strain  on  JNIawson's  har- 
ness rope.  Mawson  then  said  that  he  was  all  right. 
Probably  at  the  time  he  felt  he  was  going  the  rope 
had  suddenly  cut  back  through  the  lid  of  the  crevasse 
and  let  him  down  for  a  distance  of  about  a  couple  of 
feet.  Altogether  he  was  about  eight  feet  down  below 
the  level  of  the  snow  lid.  While  I  now  held  on  to 
JNIawson's  harness  rope  Mackay  hurried  back  to  the 
sledge,  and  with  his  Swedish  knife  cut  the  lashing 
around  the  Alpine  rope,  and  started  uncoiling  it,  making 
a  bowline  at  the  end  in  wliich  JNIawson  could  put  his 
foot.  Meanwhile  Mawson  secured  some  ice  crystals 
from  the  side  of  the  crevasse,  and  threw  them  up  for 
examination.  The  Alpine  rope  having  been  lowered, 
Mawson  put  liis  foot  into  the  bowline  and  got  INIackay 
to  haul  his  leg  up  as  high  as  his  bent  knee  would  allow 
it  to  go,  then,  calling  to  him  to  hold  tight  the  rope, 
INIawson,  throwing  the  whole  weight  of  his  body  on 
to  it,  raised  himself  about  eighteen  inches  by  means 
of  his  arms  so  as  to  be  able  to  straighten  his  right  leg. 
^Meanwhile,  I  took  in  the  slack  of  his  harness  rope. 
He  then  called  to  me  to  hold  tight  the  harness  rope, 
as  he  was  going  to  rest  his  whole  weight  on  that,  so 
as  to  take  the  strain  off  the  Alpine  rope.  Mackay 
then  was  able  to  pull  the  Alpine  rope  up  about 
eighteen  inches,  which  had  the  effect  of  bending  up 
]Mawson's  right  leg  as  before.     Mackay  then  held  fast 

156 


DANGEROUS  TRAVELLING 

the  Alpine  rope,  and  Mawson  again  straightened  him- 
self up  on  it,  resting  his  whole  weight  on  that  rope. 
Thus  httle  by  little  he  was  hoisted  up  to  the  under 
surface  of  the  snow  lid,  but  as  his  harness  rope  had  cut 
back  a  narrow  groove  in  this  snow  lid  several  feet  from 
where  the  snow  gave  away  under  him  ^lawson  now  found 
his  head  and  shoulders  pressing  against  the  under  side 
of  the  snow  lid,  and  had  some  difficulty  in  breaking 
through  this  in  order  to  get  his  head  out.  At  last 
the  top  of  his  head  emerged,  a  sight  for  which  ^lackay 
and  I  were  truly  thankful,  and  presently  he  was  able 
to  get  his  arms  up,  and  soon  his  body  followed,  and  he 
got  safely  out  on  the  near  side  of  the  crevasse.  After 
this  episode  we  were  extra  cautious  in  crossing  the 
crevasses,  but  the  ice  was  simply  seamed  -vnth  them. 
T^\ice  when  our  sledge  was  being  dragged  up  ice-pres- 
sure ridges  it  rolled  over  sideways  with  one  runner  in  a 
crevasse,  and  once  the  whole  sledge  all  but  disappeared 
into  a  crevasse,  the  snow  lid  of  which  had  partly  collapsed 
under  its  weight.  Had  it  gone  down  completely  it 
would  certainly  have  dragged  the  three  of  us  dowTi  with 
it,  as  it  weighed  nearly  one-third  of  a  ton.  It  was  clear 
that  these  high-pressure  ridges  and  numerous  crevasses 
were  caused  now,  not  by  the  Drygalski,  but  by  the 
Nansen  Glacier. 

It  was  now  somewhat  fogg\',  but  occasionally  the 
fog  and  mist  lifted,  and  in  the  distance  one  caught 
glimpses  of  magnificent  cliffs  of  reddish  brown  granite, 
with  wisps  and  wreathes  of  white  mist  hanging  aroimd  the 
sunm:iits.  The  view  reminded  me  of  the  Grampians  in 
Scotland  near  Ossian's  Cave  at  the  Pass  of  Glencoe. 
Later  on  in  the  day  we  saw  in  the  dim  light  that  we  had 
before  us  a  long  steep  descent  into  an  ice  valley,  which 
appeared  to  be  hea\'ily  crevassed  at  the  bottom.  As 
we  were  uncertain  whether  we  could  get  across  it  at 

157 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

this  spot  we  left  our  tent  and  sledge,  and  reconnoitred 
aliead,  taking  with  us  the  Alpine  rope  and  our  ice-axes. 
We  found  a  way  of  crossing  this  valley,  but  could  see 
that  the  ice-surface  ahead  of  us  was  apparently  worse 
than  ever.  We  returned  to  our  tent  and  sledge,  and 
put  up  the  tent,  and  chopped  lumps  of  ice  off  the  glacier 
with  which  to  load  the  skirt,  as  no  snow  was  available 
at  the  time.  It  was  just  conmiencing  to  snow,  and 
wind  was  freshening  from  the  south-west.  We  were 
now  in  a  perfect  labyrinth  of  crevasses  and  pressure 
ridges.  Snow  continued  falling  heavily  accompanied 
by  a  blizzard  wind  for  tlie  rest  of  that  day  and  the  whole 
of  the  succeeding  night.  Inside  the  tent  we  experienced 
some  discomfort  through  the  dripping  of  water  caused  by 
the  tha\\-ing  snow.  As  usual  during  a  blizzard  the 
temperature  rose,  and  although  the  sun's  heat  rays 
were  partly  intercepted  by  the  falling  snow  quite  suffi- 
cient warmth  reached  the  side  of  the  tent  nearest  the 
sun  to  produce  this  tliaw.  Pools  of  water  lodged 
on  the  foot  of  our  sleeping-bag,  but  we  were  able  to  keep 
the  head  of  it  fairly  dry  by  fixing  up  our  Burberry 
blouses  and  trousers  across  the  poles  on  the  inside  of 
the  tent  so  as  to  make  a  temporary  waterproof  lining 
just  above  our  heads.  We  were  all  thoroughly  ex- 
hausted, and  slept  until  about  7  a.m.  the  following 
day,  December  20.  By  that  time  the  snow  cleared  off. 
About  six  inches  of  snow  had  fallen,  and  was  lying 
deeply  drifted  in  places.  We  dug  away  the  drift 
snow  from  around  the  sledges,  and  after  the  morning 
hoosh  held  a  council  of  war.  The  question  was  whether 
we  should  continue  pulling  on  in  the  direction  of  the 
nunatak  rising  from  the  Mount  Nansen  Glacier,  or 
Avhether  we  should  retreat  and  tr\'  some  other  way  which 
might  lead  us  to  the  plateau.  ^lackay  was  in  favour 
of  hauling  ahead  over  the  IVIount  Nansen  Glacier,  while 

158 


A  SECOND  RETREAT 

Mawson  and  I  favoured  retreat,  and  trying  a  passage  in 
some  other  direction. 

At  last  we  decided  to  retreat.  Our  fortunes  now,  so 
far  as  the  possibihty  of  reachmg  the  Magnetic  Pole 
were  concerned,  seemed  at  a  low  ebb.  It  was  already 
December  20,  and  we  knew  that  we  had  to  be  back 
at  our  depot  on  the  Drygalski  Glacier  not  later  than 
February  1  or  2,  if  there  was  to  be  a  reasonable  chance 
of  our  being  picked  up  by  the  Nimrod.  We  had  not 
yet  climbed  more  than  100  ft.  or  so  above  sea-level, 
and  even  this  little  altitude  was  due  to  our  having 
climbed  ice-pressure  ridges,  which  from  time  to  time 
dijDped  down  again  to  sea-level.  We  knew  that  we 
had  to  travel  at  least  480  to  500  miles  before  we  could 
hope  to  get  to  the  JNIagnetic  Pole  and  back  to  our  depot, 
and  there  remained  only  six  weeks  in  which  to  accom- 
plish this  journey,  and  at  the  same  time  we  would  have 
yet  to  pioneer  a  road  up  to  the  high  plateau.  Now  that 
everji;liing  was  buried  under  soft  snow  it  was  clear  that 
sledging  would  be  far  slower  and  more  laborious  than 
ever.  We  soon  proved  that  this  was  the  case,  for  after 
starting  the  sledge  it  gathered  masses  of  soft  snow 
around  it  and  under  it  as  it  went,  and  at  the  end  of 
200  yards  we  had  to  halt  for  a  temporary  rest,  hoist  the 
sledge  up  on  one  side  and  knock  away  the  masses  of 
clogged  snow  from  underneath  it.  This  had  to  be 
repeated  every  few  hundred  yards,  and  after  we  had 
gone  half  a  mile  we  decided  to  leave  the  sledge  and  go 
ahead  with  ice-axes  and  Alpine  rope  to  reconnoitre. 

We  started  off  in  a  south-westerly  direction  with  the 
intention  of  seeing  whether  the  Mount  Bellingshausen 
Glacier  slope  would  be  more  practicable  for  our  sledges 
than  the  Mount  Nansen  Glacier.  We  trudged  tlirough 
soft  thawing  snow  with  here  and  there  shallow  pools 
of  water  on  the  surface  of  the  ice.     Tliis,   of  course, 

159 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

saturated  our  socks,  which  froze  as  the  temperature 
fell  during  the  night.  After  proceeding  about  two 
and  a  half  miles  we  observed  with  the  field-glasses 
that  the  foot  of  the  Mount  Bellingshausen  Glacier 
was  not  only  steep  but  broken  and  rugged.  We  decided 
to  examine  what  appeared  to  be  a  narrow  stretch  of 
snow  mantling  around  the  base  of  a  granite  mountain, 
one  of  the  offshoots  from  the  Mount  Larsen  massif. 
After  crossing  a  good  deal  of  pressure  ice  and  crevasses, 
and  floundering  amongst  the  boulders  of  old  moraines 
we  reached  some  shallow  lakes  of  thawed  snow  near 
the  junction  between  the  sea  ice  and  the  foot  of  the 
snow  slope  for  which  we  had  been  steering.  In  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  moraines,  which  here  consisted 
of  great  blocks  of  eruptive  rock  partly  or  wholly  im- 
bedded in  ice,  the  blocks  became  so  warmed  up  by  the 
sun's  heat  that  they  partially  thawed  the  ice  around, 
and  in  some  cases  above  them:  and  so  when  one  stepped 
near  one  of  these  blocks,  or  over  a  concealed  block, 
the  ice  gave  way  with  a  crash  letting  one  down  a  depth 
of  from  one  to  three  feet.  At  one  place,  before  reaching 
the  shallow  lakes,  we  found  quite  a  strong  stream 
of  water  flowing  just  under  the  surface  of  the  ice.  This 
was  evidently  supplied  from  thaw  water  from  the  slopes 
near  the  shore-line. 

After  paddhng,  unwillingly,  in  the  shallow  lakes 
we  reached  the  foot  of  what  proved  now  to  be  not  a 
snow  slope  but  a  small  branch  glacier.  This  was  covered 
with  a  considerable  depth  of  soft  newly  drifted  snow, 
and  we  found  the  ascent  in  consequence  verj'  tiring 
as  we  sunk  at  each  step  in  the  soft  snow  over  our  knees. 
At  last  we  attained  an  altitude  of  1200  ft.  above  sea- 
level,  and  were  then  high  enough  to  see  that  the  upper 
part  of  this  branch  glacier  joined  the  Mount  Bellings- 
hausen Glacier  at  about  800  ft.  higher  and  some  half 

160 


Depot  on  the  Drygalski  Barrier 


'Backstair's  Passage"  on  the  Ascent  from  the  Sea-Ice  to  the  Plateau. 
Mount  Larsen  on  the  Left 


SEARCHING  FOR  A  PATH 

mile  further  on.  We  were  well  pleased  with  this  dis- 
covery, but  as  the  glacier  front  ascended  about  1500  ft. 
in  less  than  a  mile  we  did  not  look  forward  to  the  task 
of  getting  our  heavy  sledge  up  this  steep  slope,  encumb- 
ered as  it  was  with  soft  deej)  thawing  snow. 

On  our  return  to  the  shore-line  down  the  glacier 
slope  we  discovered  that  it  was  slightly  crevassed 
in  places,  though  not  heavily  so.  At  the  foot  of  the 
glacier,  and  a  short  distance  towards  our  camp,  we 
found  a  moraine  gravel.  This  was  intermixed  with  a 
dark  marine  clay  containing  numerous  remains  of 
serpulje,  pecten  shells,  bryozoa,  foraminifera,  &c.  Mac- 
kay  also  found  a  j^erfect  sjjecimen  of  a  solitary  coral, 
allied  to  Delto-cyathus,  and  also  a  Waldlieimia.  All 
these  specimens  were  carefully  preserved  and  brought 
into  camp.  While  we  were  collecting  these  specimens 
we  could  hear  the  roar  of  many  mountain  torrents 
descending  the  steejD  granite  slopes  of  the  great  moun- 
tain mass  to  the  south  of  our  branch  glacier.  Occa- 
sionally, too,  we  heard  the  boom  and  crash  of  an  ava- 
lanche descending  from  the  high  mountain  top.  Such 
sounds  were  strange  to  our  ears,  accustomed  so  long 
to  the  almost  perfect  solitude  and  silence  of  the  Antarctic, 
hitherto  broken  only  by  the  bleating  of  baby  seals  and 
the  call  of  the  penguins. 

Mawson  discovered  in  another  part  of  the  moraine, 
nearer  to  our  camp,  a  bright  green  mineral  forming 
tliin  crusts  on  a  very  pretty  quartz  and  felspar  porphyiy. 
These  we  decided  to  examine  more  carefully  on  the 
morrow.  We  were  all  thoroughly  exhausted  after  the 
day's  work,  and  JNIackay  had  a  rather  bad  attack  of  snow- 
blindness.  For  some  time  after  we  got  into  the  sleep- 
ing-bag, and  before  we  dozed  off,  we  could  still  hear 
the  intermittent  roar  of  avalanches  like  the  booming  of 
distant  artillery. 

Vol.  n.-u  161 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

The  folloAving  day,  December  22,  we  picked  our  way 
with  our  sledge  cautiously  amongst  the  crevasses  and 
over  the  pressure  mounds,  the  traversing  of  which 
gave  us  some  trouble  in  places,  and  eventually  reached 
a  fairly  good  track  along  the  ice  parallel  to  the  moraine 
from  which  we  had  been  collecting  the  day  previous. 
We  found  a  large  pool  of  thaw  water  on  the  surface 
of  the  ice.  This  was  fed  by  a  sub-glacial  stream  coming 
from  an  old  rock  moraine.  We  could  hear  this  stream 
rolling  the  pebbles  along  in  its  channel.  At  another 
point  the  moraine  showed  a  remarkable  cone,  which 
at  first  sight  we  took  for  a  tjq^ical  esker,  but  a  nearer 
examination  revealed  the  fact  that  the  whole  cone,  with 
the  exception  of  the  exterior,  was  formed  of  solid  ice 
with  only  an  outer  coating  of  sand,  mud  and  gravel 
associated  with  abundant  marine  organisms  similar  to 
those  collected  bj'  us  the  previous  day.  We  halted 
when  we  arrived  opposite  the  green  mineral  observed 
by  ^lawson  the  previous  day.  We  collected  a  good 
deal  of  this.  At  first  sight  we  thought  it  was  the 
common  mineral  epidote,  but  its  hardness  and  the 
fact  that  it  had  turned  yellow,  where  it  was  weathered, 
made  this  hypothesis  untenable.  The  green  crusts 
formed  by  it  were  about  one  fourteenth  to  one-sixteenth 
of  an  inch  in  thickness,  and  it  was  evidently  fairly 
Avidely  distributed  in  that  locahty,  as  numerous  large 
joint  faces  of  the  quartz  and  felspar  porphyry  were 
completely  coated  with  it.  A  little  further  on  we 
came  upon  an  enormous  silicious  sponge,  eighteen 
inches  by  two  feet  in  diameter,  adhering  firmly  to 
one  of  the  moraine  boulders.  We  secured  specimens 
of  this. 

Altogether  the  locality  was  most  fascinating,  and 
we  longed  to  have  been  able  to  spend  more  time  there. 
Amongst   other  interesting  problems   was  the  question 

162 


SOME  PROBLEMS 

as  to  how  the  material  of  the  sea  floor  came  to  be  up- 
hfted  here  to  a  height  of  twenty  to  thirty  feet  or  more 
above  sea-level,  and  as  to  how  the  marine  sediments 
came  to  be  resting  on  an  old  conical  surface  of  dense  ice. 
We  tested  the  latter  to  see  whether  it  was  of  salt-  or  of 
fresh- water  origin;  it  was  not  distinctly  saline,  though 
slightly  so — much  as  glacier  ice  would  be  if  it  were 
sprayed  by  the  sea.  None  of  us  could  account  for 
this  curious  phenomenon.  It  seemed  as  though  the 
marine  muds  had  been  subjected  to  considerable 
pressure,  as  numbers  of  the  fossils  in  it  were  triturated 
and  shattered.  It  is  of  course  just  possible  that  in  the 
forward  movement  of  the  jNIount  Xansen  Glacier  it 
may  have  pushed  up  some  of  the  sea  bottom  above  sea- 
level,  and  stiU  there  remains  the  question  as  to  how 
masses  of  ice  came  to  find  their  way  under  the  morauie 
sediments.  It  is  possible  that  after  an  extensive  glacia- 
tion  of  this  region  the  glacier  ice  from  inland  spread 
over  the  spot  where  tliis  moraine  is  now  situated,  but 
on  the  retreat  of  the  ice  inland,  while  stiU  a  small 
thickness  of  ice  was  left  in  this  bay,  a  submergence 
ensued,  and  during  that  submergence  a  marine  mud 
was  deposited  over  the  ice  together  with  the  larger 
organisms  found  in  association  with  the  mud.  Then 
there  was  an  advance  of  the  ice  once  more,  and  moraines 
of  large  blocks  of  rock  were  laid  down  over  the  top 
of  the  moraine  muds  and  the  relics  of  the  ancient  glacier 
ice.  Then  once  more  the  ice  retreated  to  its  present 
position  leaving  the  moraine  blocks  and  moraine  muds 
of  the  old  ice  m  the  relative  situations  mentioned. 

As  we  skirted  the  foot  of  the  small  branch  glacier 
we  noticed  several  small  puffs  of  snow  near  the  top  angle 
of  the  snow  slope  which  we  proposed  to  escalade.  Just 
as  we  were  pulling  our  sledge  to  the  foot  of  this  slope  the 
puff  of  wind  with  drift  snow  developed  suddenly  into  a 

163 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

strong  blizzard.  We  pulled  in  against  tliis  with  great 
diffieulty  for  half  an  hour,  then  eaniped  at  the  foot  of 
the  slope.  The  blizzard  with  its  heavy  drift  snow 
and  the  occasional  gleams  of  warm  sunshine  cast  much 
drift  over  our  tent  with  accompanyuig  thaw.  Con- 
secjuently  inside  the  tent  water  dripped  heavily  all 
over  our  clotliing  and  sleeping-bag.  Fortunately  we 
were  just  above  the  level  of  the  thaw  water  of  the 
small  lakes,  but  we  could  hear  water  trickling  close 
underneath  our  tent  amongst  the  granite  boulders  of  the 
moraines  just  under  the  ice. 

We  were  able  now  to  economise  fuel,  as  we  could 
bale  the  water  out  of  these  rock  pools  and  streams  for 
making  our  hoosh,  tea  and  cocoa.  All  that  night  the 
blizzard  raged,  and  we  thought  any  moment  tliat  the 
tent  would  be  ripped  up  from  top  to  bottom.  It  was 
getting  verj'  thin  bj'  this  time  and  had  already  been 
frequently  repaired  by  JMackay  and  ^lawson.  On  this 
occasion  several  new  rents  started  from  near  the  top  of 
the  tent  and  spread  downwards.  Moreover,  the  canvas 
cap  of  our  tent  was  broken  by  the  force  of  the  wind 
and  the  pressure  of  the  drift  snow. 

The  following  day,  about  7  a.m.,  I  got  up  and  dug 
away  the  drift  snow  from  the  lee  side  of  the  tent,  wliich 
was  cramping  our  feet  and  legs,  and  found  that  it  was 
still  snowing  heavily  outside,  and  blowng  hard  as  well. 
In  the  afternoon  the  blizzard  slacked  off  somewhat, 
and  the  drift  nearly  ceased.  We  got  up  accordingly  and 
had  a  meal.  We  halved  our  sledge  load,  repacked 
the  sledge,  and  by  dint  of  great  exertions  dragged  it 
up  the  steep  snow  and  ice  slope  to  a  height  of  800  ft. 
above  the  sea.  This  was  done  in  the  teeth  of  a  mild  but 
freshening  blizzard.  The  blizzard  at  last  got  too  strong 
for  us,  so  that  we  left  the  load  at  the  altitude  mentioned 
and  returned  back  to  our  tent  with  the  empty  sledge. 

164 


A  PAKSELENK 


BETTER  PROGRESS 

We  had  been  pleased  to  find  that  the  blizzard, 
although  it  had  delayed  us  and  damaged  our  tent,  had 
proved  a  blessing  in  disguise.  It  had  not  brought 
with  it  much  fresh  snow,  but  had  blown  away  most  of 
the  loose  snow  left  by  the  preceding  blizzard,  leaving 
behind  it  now  a  fairly  hard  snow  surface  suitable  for 
sledging. 

Mackay's  eyes,  still  suffering  from  the  effects  of 
snow-blindness,  were  treated  with  a  solution  of  thin 
tabloids  (laminte)  of  sulphate  of  zinc  and  cocaine,  with 
the  result  that  his  ej'es  were  much  better  the  folloA\ang 
day,  December  25.  This  day  there  was  still  a  strong 
breeze  coming  off  the  plateau,  and  sweeping  over  our 
tent.  A  little  later  in  the  morning  the  weather  became 
calm,  and  a  glorious  sunny  day  smiled  upon  us.  ]Mawson 
and  JMackay  repaired  the  rents  in  the  tent,  while  I  saw 
to  repacking  of  the  sledge  with  the  remaining  half  load, 
and  collected  some  geological  specimens. 

We  started  shortly  before  noon  and  commenced 
dragging  up  the  second  part  of  our  load  to  the  accom- 
paniment of  the  music  of  murmuring  streams.  During 
our  interval  for  lunch,  ]Mawson  was  able  to  get  some 
theodolite  angles.  We  had  the  great  satisfaction,  when 
we  turned  in  at  10  p.m.  on  Christmas  Eve,  to  find  that 
we  were  above  the  uncomfortable  zone  of  thaw,  and 
ever}i:hing  around  us  was  once  more  crisp  and  dry, 
though  cold.  Our  spirits,  too,  mounted  with  the  altitude. 
We  were  now  over  1200  ft.  above  sea-level. 


Cljaptcr  cElcten 

PROFESSOR  DAVIDS  NARRATIVE  {Continued) 

npiIE  following  day,  December  25,  was  Christmas  Day. 
-*■  When  I  awoke,  I  noticed  a  pile  of  snow  on  top  of 
the  sleeping-bag  close  to  my  head.  At  first,  before 
I  was  fully  awake,  I  imagined  that  it  was  the  moisture 
condensed  from  ]\Iawson's  breath.  Then  I  heard  the 
gentle  patter  of  snow-flakes,  and,  on  turning  my  head 
ill  the  direction  in  which  the  rustling  proceeded,  saw 
that  the  wind  had  undermined  the  skirt  of  our  tent,  and 
was  blowing  the  snow  in  through  a  small  opening  it  had 
made.  Accordingly,  I  slipped  out  and  snowed  up  the 
skirt  again,  trampling  the  snow  down  firmly.  A  plateau 
wind  was  now  blowing  with  almost  blizzard  force. 

About  two  hours  later  we  got  up,  and,  after  some 
trouble  with  the  Primus  lamp  on  account  of  the  wind, 
had  our  breakfast,  but,  as  the  wind  was  blowing  dead 
against  us,  we  turned  into  the  sleeping-bag  for  a  short 
time.  It  was  nearly  noon  before  the  wind  died  down,  and 
we  started  off  with  our  sledge,  still  relaying  with  half 
loads,  the  day  being  now  beautifully  clear  and  sunny. 
At  the  1.300  ft.  level  we  started  our  sledge  meter  again, 
ha^^ng  lifted  it  off  the  ice  while  we  were  going  up  the 
steep  slope.  A  little  further  on  we  were  able  to  put 
the  whole  of  our  load  again  on  to  the  sledge  and  so 
dispense  with  further  relay  work.  This,  too,  was  a  great 
blessing. 

When  we  arrived  at  our  spot  for  camping  that 
night  we  had  the  satisfaction  of  finding  that  we  were 
over   2000    ft.    above   sea-level,    and   that   we   had,    in 

166 


CLIMBING  THE  PLATEAU 

addition  to  the  climbing,  travelled  that  day  about  four 
mUes.  The  plateau  wind  had  almost  gone,  and  once 
more  we  revelled  in  being  not  only  high,  but  dry. 
Having  no  other  kind  of  Christmas  gift  to  offer,  Mawson 
and  I  presented  Mackay  with  some  sennegrass  for  his 
pipe,  his  tobacco  having  long  ago  given  out.  We  slept 
soundly  that  Christmas  night. 

On  December  26  we  observed  dense  dark  snow  clouds 
to  the  north-east,  and  a  little  light  snow  commenced  to 
fall,  but  fortunately  the  weather  cleared  towards  the 
afternoon.  Mawson  lost  one  of  his  blue  sweaters  off  the 
sledge,  but  he  and  INIackay  went  back  some  distance  and 
recovered  it.  Towards  the  afternoon  we  found  it  neces- 
sary to  cross  a  number  of  fairly  large  crevasses.  These 
were  completed  snowed  over,  and  although  we  frequently 
fell  through  up  to  our  knees,  we  had  no  serious  trouble 
from  them  on  this  occasion.  Some  of  them  were  from 
twenty  to  tMrty  feet  in  wdth,  and  it  was  fortunate  for 
us  that  the  snow  lids  were  strong  enough  to  carry 
safely  the  sledge  and  ourselves.  JNIackay  suggested,  for 
greater  security,  fastening  the  Alpine  rope  around 
Mawson,  who  was  in  the  lead,  and  securing  the  other 
end  of  it  to  the  sledge.  The  roj^e  was  left  just  slack 
enough  to  admit  of  the  strain  of  hauling  being  taken 
by  the  harness  rope,  hence  INIawson  had  two  strings 
to  his  bow  in  case  of  being  suddenly  precipitated 
into  a  crevasse.  Tliis  was  a  good  system,  which 
we  always  adopted  afterwards  in  crossing  hea\'ily 
crevassed  ice. 

The  following  day,  December  27,  we  decided  to 
make  a  small  depot  of  our  ski-boots  (as  by  this  time  it 
appeared  we  were  getting  off  the  glacier  ice  on  to  hard 
snow  and  neve  where  we  should  not  require  them)  and 
also  of  all  our  geological  specimens,  and  about  one  day's 
food-supply,  together  with   a  small   quantity  of  oil — a 

167 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

supply  for  about  two  days  in  one  of  our  oil-cans.     The 
following  is  a  list  of  the  provisions: 

Powdered  cheese   (enough  for  two  meals). 

Tea  (for  four  meals) . 

Twenty-five  lumps  of  sugar. 

Hoosh  for  one  meal. 

Chocolate  (for  one  and  a  half  meals). 

Twelve  biscuits. 

We  also  left  an  empty  biscuit  tin  into  which  we 
crammed  our  ski-boots,  and  our  three  ice-axes,  using  one 
of  them  stuck  upright  as  a  staff  for  a  small  blue  flag 
to  mark  the  depot.  JSIawson  took  some  good  bearings 
with  the  prismatic  compass,  and  we  then  proceeded 
on  our  way.  This  depot  we  called  the  Larsen  Depot,  as 
it  was  close  to  one  of  the  southern  spurs  of  JNIount 
Larsen. 

All  eyes  were  now  strained,  as  we  advanced  with 
our  sledge,  to  see  whether  there  was  still  any  formidable 
range  of  mountains  ahead  of  us  barring  our  path  to  the 
plateau.  At  one  time  it  seemed  as  though  there  was 
a  high  range  in  the  dim  distance,  but  a  careful  exam- 
ination Anth  the  field-glasses  showed  that  this  ap- 
pearance was  due  only  to  clouds.  Our  joy  and  thank- 
fulness was  unbounded  when  we  at  last  realised  that 
apparently  there  was  now  a  fairlj^  easy  ascent  of  hard 
neve  and  snow  on  to  the  plateau.  That  day  we  sledged 
a  little  over  ten  miles.  During  the  night  there  was  a 
very  strong  radiant  in  the  sky  from  about  south-west 
to  north-east,  with  a  movement  of  altro-stratus  cloud 
from  north-west  to  south-east.  Therefore,  probably, 
this  radiant  was  due  to  formation  of  great  rolls  of 
cloud  curled  over  by  the  anti-trade  wind  as  it  pressed 
forward    in    a    south-easterly    direction.      The    rolls    of 

1G8 


A  STEADY  ADVANCE 

clouds  were  distinctly  curved  convexly  towards  the 
south-east. 

The  following  day,  December  28,  we  travelled  on 
north-westwards  in  thick  cloudy  weather,  at  first  quite 
cahn.  At  about  10  a.m.  a  breeze  set  in  from  the  sea, 
spreading  westwards  over  the  top  of  Blount  Nansen  over 
8000  ft.  above  sea-level.  Above  Nansen  it  met  the 
upper  current  wind  and  was  obviously  deflected  by  it 
in  a  south-easterly  direction.  Meanwhile,  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  coast  the  sky  was  very  dark  and  lowering,  and 
probably  snow  was  falling  there.  Remarkable  pillars 
of  cloud  formed  over  the  JNIount  Larsen  group.  These 
were  photographed  by  INIawson.  We  passed  over  occa- 
sional patches  of  nearly  bare  glacier  ice,  alternating  with 
stretches  of  hard  neve.  When  we  camped  that  evening 
we  had  sledged  a  little  over  ten  miles,  and  a  keen, 
cold  wind  was  blowing  gently  off  the  high  plateau  to 
our  west. 

The  following  day,  December  29,  was  clear,  calm 
and  cold.  At  noon  a  pretty  strong  wind  was  blowing 
off  the  plateau.  The  surface  of  the  snow  was  fairly 
strongly  ridged  ^\^th  sastrugi.  One  set  was  made  by 
winds  coming  from  between  west-south-west  and  west 
by  north,  the  other  by  winds  nearly  north-westerly,  or 
between  west-30° -north  and  west-40° -north.  As  this 
latter  bearing  was  not  far  off  the  direction  in  which  we 
were  travelling,  we  were  able  from  time  to  time  to  follow 
these  minor  sastrugi,  which  were  thus  of  considerable  help 
to  us  in  bringing  over  the  sastrugi  more  oblique  to  the 
direction  in  which  we  were  travelling. 

The  following  day,  December  30,  ]\Iounts  Larsen 
and  Bellingshausen  were  disappearing  below  the  horizon, 
and  several  mountains  were  showing  up  clearly  and 
sharply  to  the  north  of  us,  the  principal  peaks  of  which 
were  at  first  identified  by  us  as  Mount  New  Zealand 

169 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

and  Blount  Queensland  of  Captain  Scott's  chart.  Later 
]\Iawson  concluded  that  the  western  of  the  two  at  any 
rate  was  new  and  unnamed. 

There  was  still  a  strong  plateau  wind.  We  were 
now  at  an  altitude  of  about  4500  ft.  Once  more,  as 
in  winter  time,  our  breath  froze  into  lumps  of  ice, 
cementing  our  IJurberry  helmets  to  our  beards  and 
moustaches.  In  jjutting  up  the  tent  for  lunch  in 
the  strong  plateau  wind,  it  became  badly  torn  near 
the  cap  piece.  This  wind  had  started  before  midnight 
on  the  i^revious  night,  and  was  blowing  strongly  until 
the  afternoon,  at  from  twelve  to  about  fifteen  miles  an 
hour.  It  carried  along  with  it  a  little  low  drift.  The 
plateau  ^\ind  did  not  die  down  luitil  the  evening.  Our 
distance  travelled  was  eleven  miles,  and  we  were  still 
travelling  on  an  up  grade,  being  now  nearly  5000  ft. 
above  sea-level. 

December  31  passed  off  without  any  special  event 
other  than  that  after  ]\lackay  had  repaired  the  tent  in  the 
morning  it  became  torn  again  at  lunch-time  when  we 
were  fitting  it  over  the  tent-poles.  JNIawson  took  a  fresh 
set  of  magnetic  observations.  We  camped  for  this 
purpose  at  the  bottom  of  a  wide  undulation  ui  the  neve 
surface.  We  were  disappointed  at  his  announcement  that 
he  made  out  that  the  Magnetic  Pole  was  further  inland 
than  had  been  originally  estimated.  What  with  the 
observations  with  the  Lloyd-Creak  dip  circle,  and  the  time 
occupied  in  repairing  the  rents  in  the  tent,  we  ran  our- 
selves somewhat  short  of  time  for  our  sledging  that 
day,  and  did  not  camp  until  a  little  before  midnight. 
We  were  still  dragging  the  sledge  on  an  up  grade;  the 
surface  was  softer  and  more  powdery  than  before,  and 
the  sastrugi  heavier.  Also  since  the  previous  Tuesdaj' 
we  had  been  obliged  to  put  ourselves  on  somewhat 
shorter  rations   than   before,   as   we   had   to   take   one- 

170 


NEW  YEAR'S   DAY 

eighth  of  our  rations  out  in  order  to  form  an  emergency 
food-supply  in  the  event  of  our  journey  to  and  from 
the  jNIagnetic  Pole  proving  longer  than  we  originally 
anticipated. 

That  night,  about  a  mile  before  reaching  camp,  we 
sighted  to  the  west  of  us,  much  to  our  surprise,  some 
distinct  ice  falls.  This  showed  us  that  the  snow  desert 
over  which  we  were  travelling  had  still  some  kind 
of  creeping  movement  in  it.  A  skua  gull  came  to  visit 
us  this  New  Year's  Eve.  He  had  been  following  us  up 
for  some  time  in  the  distance,  mistaking  us,  perhaps, 
for  seals  crawling  inland  to  die,  as  is  not  infrequently 
the  habit  of  these  animals.  We  were  now  about  eighty 
miles  inland  from  the  nearest  open  water.  Being 
disappointed  of  his  high  hopes,  he  left  us  after 
that  day  and  we  saw  him  again  no  more.  The  run  for 
the  day  was  about  ten  miles.  We  felt  very  much 
exhausted  when  we  turned  into  our  sleeping-bag  that 
night. 

January  1,  1909  (New  Year's  Day) ,  was  a  beautiful 
calm  day  with  a  very  light  gentle  plateau  wind,  with 
fairly  high  temperature.  The  sky  was  festooned  in  the 
direction  of  Mount  Nansen  with  delicate  wispy  cirrus 
clouds  converging  in  a  north-east  direction.  Later  on, 
towards  the  evening,  it  was  evident  that  these  cirrus 
clouds  were  strongly  bent  round  from  south-west  in 
a  northerly  direction.  Possibly  this  bending  with 
the  concave  side  to  the  west-north-west  was  due 
to  the  pressure  at  a  high  level  of  the  anti-trade  Avind 
blowing  towards  the  east-south-east.  IVIawson  took 
observations  for  latitude  and  for  magnetic  de\'iation 
at  noon.  He  made  our  latitude  at  noon  to  be  74°  18'. 
That  night  Mawson  gave  us  a  grand  hoosh  and  a 
rich  pot  of  cocoa  in  celebration  of  New  Year's  Day. 

171 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

We  all  thoroughly  enjoyed  this  meal  after  our  exhausting 
march. 

On  Januarj'  2  we  noticed  that  the  sastrugi  were 
gradually  swinging  round  into  a  direction  a  little  north 
of  west.  The  snow  was  frequently  soft  in  large  patches, 
which  made  sledging  very  heavy.  We  ascended 
altogether  about  290  ft.,  but  we  crossed  a  large  number 
of  broad  undulations,  the  troughs  of  which  were  from 
thirty  to  forty  feet  below  their  crests.  These  un- 
dulations considerably  increased  the  work  of  sledging, 
and  the  loose  patches  of  snow  were  so  very  soft  and 
powdery  that  the  runners  of  our  sledge  sunk  deeply 
into  them,  so  that  it  was  only  with  our  utmost  efforts 
that  we  were  able  that  day  to  finish  our  usual  ten  miles. 
Again  we  were  much  exhausted  when  the  time  came 
for  camping.  We  were  beginning  to  suffer,  too,  from 
liunger,  and  would  have  liked  more  to  drink  if  we  could 
have  afforded  it.  We  talked  of  what  we  would  have 
drunk  if  we  had  had  the  chance.  jMackay  said  he  would 
have  liked  to  drink  a  gallon  of  buttermilk  straight  off; 
MaM'son  Avould  have  preferred  a  big  basin  of  cream; 
while  I  would  have  chosen  several  pots  of  the  best  coffee 
with  plenty  of  hot  milk. 

We  were  still  climbing  on  January  3,  haA-ing  as- 
cended another  500  ft.  It  proved  the  heaviest  day's 
sledging  since  we  reached  the  plateau.  The  snow 
was  still  softer  than  on  the  previous  day.  and  the  sur- 
face was  more  undulating  than  ever,  the  troughs  of  the 
undulations  being  about  fifty  feet  below  the  crests. 
The  sastrugi  themselves  were  from  two  to  three  feet  in 
height.  The  crests  of  the  large  undulations  were 
usually  formed  of  hard  snow,  the  strong  winds  having 
bloAMi  any  loose  material  off  them.  This  loose  material 
had  accumulated  to  some  depth  in  the  troughs,  and 
hence  made  the  wide  patches  of  soft  snow  which  made 

172 


OVER   6000   FEET   UP 

our  sledge  drag  so  heavily  as  we  crossed  them.  By 
dint  of  great  efforts  we  managed  to  finish  our  ten  miles 
for  tliat  day. 

The  next  day,  Januarj'  4,  we  were  pleased  to  find 
that  there  was  less  up  grade  than  on  the  previous  day. 
We  were  now  at  an  altitude  of  over  6000  ft.,  and  found 
respiration  in  the  cold,  rarified  air  distinctly  trjang. 
It  was  not  that  we  suffered  definitely  from  mountain 
sickness,  but  we  felt  weaker  than  usual  as  the  result, 
no  doubt,  of  the  altitude  combined  with  the  cold.  To- 
wards evening,  large  clouds  developed,  much  like 
the  whaleback  clouds  which  we  had  often  obser\ed 
forming  over  Erebus  about  the  time  of  bUzzards. 
Great  rolls  of  cumulus  spread  rapidly  from  the  north- 
west towards  the  south-east,  and  we  feared  that  a 
blizzard  was  impending.  On  the  whole  the  sledging 
was  a  httle  easier  to-day  than  the  preceding  day,  and 
again  we  managed  to  do  our  ten  miles. 

On  the  morning  of  January  5  we  found  the  sk}-  thickly 
overcast,  except  to  the  south  and  the  south-east,  where 
clear  strips  of  blue  were  showing.  We  thought  that 
snow  was  coming.  The  weather  was  perfectly  cahn, 
comparatively  warm,  but  the  hght  dull.  We  could 
still  see  the  new  inland  mountain  and  ]Mount  Xew 
Zealand  distinctly.  The  sun  was  so  oppressively  hot 
when  it  peeped  out  from  behind  the  clouds  that  one  could 
feel  it  burning  the  skin  on  one's  hands. 

The  surface  was  more  marked  by  sastrugi  than  ever, 
but  on  the  whole  firm.  We  sledged  ten  miles.  I 
will  quote  from  my  diary  the  notes  regarding  some  suc- 
ceeding days. 

January  6. — To-day  the  weather  was  gloriously  fine. 
Bright,  warm  sunshine  with  a  crisp,  cold  air  in  the  early 
morning  and  the  weather  almost  calm.  The  pulling  was 
rather   hea\y   during   the   afternoon;   possibly   the   hot 

173 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

sun  may  have  somewhat  softened  the  surface  of  the 
snow.  This  morning  I  left  off  my  crampons  and  put  on 
a  new  pair  of  finnesko.  These  latter  proved  some- 
what shpper)-,  and  in  falling  heavilj-  this  afternoon 
over  one  of  the  sastrugi  I  slightly  strained  some  nmscles 
on  the  inner  side  of  my  left  leg,  just  helow  the  knee. 
Tliis  gave  me  a  considcrahle  amount  of  pain  for  the  rest 
of  the  journey.  JVIackay  lost  all  his  stockings  and  socks 
off  the  bamhoo  pole  of  the  sledge,  but  was  fortunate 
enough  to  recover  them  after  walking  back  over  a  mile 
on  our  tracks. 

January  7. — We  were  up  at  5  a.m.,  when  the  tempera- 
ture was  minus  13°  Fahr.  We  were  anxious  to  arrive  at 
the  end  of  our  first  five  miles  in  good  time  for  ^lawson 
to  get  a  meridian  altitude,  and  take  theodohte  angles 
to  the  new  mountain  and  Mount  New  Zealand,  wliich 
were  now  almost  disappearing  from  view  below  the 
horizon.  IMawson  made  our  latitude  to-day  73°  43'. 
This  was  one  of  the  coldest  days  we  had  as  yet  ex- 
perienced on  the  plateau,  the  wind  blowing  from  west 
by  north.  We  all  felt  the  pulling  very  much  to-day, 
possibl}'  because  it  was  still  slightly  uphill,  and  prob- 
ably partly  on  account  of  mountain  lassitude.  The 
distance  travelled  was  ten  miles. 

Friday,  January  8. — To-day,  also,  w^as  bitterly  cold. 
The  wind  blew  very  fresh  for  some  little  time  before 
noon  from  a  direction  of  about  west  by  north,  raising 
much  low^  drift.  Our  hands  were  frost-bitten  several 
times  when  packing  up  the  sledge.  The  cold  blizzard 
continued  for  the  whole  day.  At  lunch  time  we  had 
great  difficulty  in  getting  up  the  tent,  which  became 
again  seriously  torn  in  the  process.  Our  beards  were 
frozen  to  our  Burberry  helmets  and  Balaclavas,  and 
we  had  to  tear  away  our  hair  by  the  roots  in  order 
to    get    them    off.    We    continued    travelling    in    the 

174 


OPTICAL  EFFECTS 

blizzard  after  lunch.  Mawson's  right  cheek  was  frost- 
bitten, and  also  the  tip  of  my  nose.  The  Avind  was 
blowing  all  the  time  at  an  angle  of  about  45°  on  the 
port  bow  of  our  sledge.  We  just  managed  to  do  our 
ten  miles  and  were  very  thankful  when  the  time  came  for 
camping. 

The  following  day,  January  9,  a  very  cold  plateau 
wind  was  still  blowing,  the  horizon  being  hazy  with 
low  drift.  We  were  now  completely  out  of  sight  of 
any  mountain  ranges,  and  were  toihng  up  and  down 
amongst  the  huge  billows  of  a  snow  sea.  The  silence 
and  solitude  were  most  impressive.  About  10.30  a.m. 
a  well-marked  parphelion,  or  mock  sun,  due  to  floating 
ice  crystals  in  the  air,  made  its  appearance.  It  had 
the  form  of  a  wide  halo  with  two  mock  suns  at  either 
extremity  of  the  equator  of  the  halo  parallel  to  the  horizon 
and  passing  through  the  real  sun.  jMawson  was  able  to 
make  his  magnetic  deviation  observation  with  more  com- 
fort, as  towards  noon  the  wind  slackened  and  the  day 
became  gloriously  bright  and  clear.  In  the  afternoon  it 
fell  calm. 

We  were  feeling  the  pinch  of  hunger  somewhat,  and 
as  usual  our  talk,  under  these  circumstances,  turned 
chiefly  on  restaurants,  and  the  wonderfully  elaborate 
dinners  we  would  have  when  we  returned  to  civilisation. 
Again  we  accomj^lished  our  ten  miles,  and  were  now  at 
an  altitude  of  over  7000  ft. 

January  10  was  also  a  lovely  day,  warm  and  clear; 
the  snow  surface  was  good  and  we  travelled  quickly. 
There  was  a  strong  "  Noah's  Ark "  structure  in  the 
high-level  cirrus  clouds,  there  being  a  strong  radiant 
point  respectively  in  the  north-west  and  south-east, 
and  this  made  us  somewhat  apprehensive  that  we  were 
in  for  another  bhzzard.  These  cirrus  clouds  were  also 
strongly   curved   with   the   concave   side   of   the  turve 

175 


THE   HEART   OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

facing  the  north-east.  We  thought  this  curve  was,  per- 
haps, due  to  the  anti-trade  wind  bending  round  hi  a 
direction  following  that  of  the  curve  in  the  wisps  of 
cirrus. 

January  11. — We  were  up  about  7  a.m.,  the  tempera- 
ture at  that  time  being  minus  12°  Fahr.  It  was  a 
cold  day  to-day,  and  we  had  a  light  wind  nearly 
southerly.  At  first  it  blew  from  between  south  and  south- 
south-east;  this  gradually  freshened  at  lunch  time  and 
veered  towards  the  west.  It  then  returned  again  more 
towards  the  south-south-east.  JNlawson  had  a  touch  of 
snow-blindness  in  his  right  eye.  Both  he  and  Mackay 
suffered  much  through  the  skin  of  their  lips  peeling  off", 
leaving  the  raw  flesh  exposed.  JMawson,  ])articularly, 
experienced  great  difficulty  every  morning  in  getting 
his  mouth  oj^ened,  as  his  lips  were  firmly  glued  together 
by  congealed  blood. 

That  day  we  did  eleven  miles,  the  surface  being  fairly 
firm,  and  there  being  no  ap])reciable  general  up  grade 
now,  but  only  long-ridged  undulations,  with  sastrugi.  We 
noticed  that  these  sastrugi  had  now  changed  direction, 
and  instead  of  trending  from  nearly  west,  or  north 
of  west,  eastwards,  now  came  more  from  the  south- 
east directed  towards  the  north-west.  This  warned 
us  that  we  might  anticipate  possibly  strong  head 
winds  on  our  return  journey,  as  our  course  at 
the  time  was  being  directed  almost  north-west, 
following  from  time  to  time  the  exact  bearing  of  the 
horizontal  magnetic  compass.  The  compass  was  now 
very  sluggish,  in  fact  the  theodolite  compass  would 
scarcely  work  at  all.  This  pleased  us  a  good  deal, 
and  at  first  we  all  wished  more  power  to  it;  then 
amended  the  sentiment  and  wished  less  power  to  it. 
The  sky  was  clear,  and  Mawson  got  good  magnetic 
meridian  observ^ations  by  means  of  his  very  delicately 

176 


THE   MOVING  GOAL 

balanced  horizontal  moving  needle  in  his  Brunton  transit 
instrument. 

January  12. — The  sky  to-day  was  overcast,  the 
night  having  been  calm  and  cloudy.  A  few  snow- 
flakes  and  fine  ice  crystals  were  falling.  The  sun  was 
verj^  hot  and  it  somewhat  softened  the  snow  surface, 
thereby  increasing  of  course  the  difficulty  of  sledging. 
We  sledged  to-day  ten  and  three-quarter  miles. 

The  evening,  after  hoosh,  ]Mawson,  on  carefully 
analysing  the  results  set  forth  in  the  advance  copy 
of  the  Discovery  Expedition  jNIagnetic  Report,  decided 
that  although  the  matter  was  not  expressly  so  stated, 
the  ^Magnetic  Pole,  instead  of  moving  easterly,  as  it  had 
done  in  the  interval  between  Sabine's  observations  in 
1841  and  the  time  of  the  Discovery  expedition  in  1902. 
was  hkely  now  to  be  travelling  somewhat  to  the  north- 
west. The  results  of  dip  readings  taken  at  intervals 
earlier  in  the  journey  also  agreed  with  this  decision. 
It  would  be  necessary  therefore  to  travel  further  in 
that  direction  than  we  had  anticipated  in  order  to 
reach  our  goal.  This  was  extremely  disquieting  news, 
for  all  of  us  as  we  had  come  almost  to  the  limit  of  our 
provisions,  after  making  allowance  for  enough  to  take 
us  back  on  short  rations  to  the  coast.  In  spite  of  the 
anxiety  of  the  situation  extreme  weariness  after  sledg- 
ing enabled  us  to  catch  some  sleep. 

The  following  morning,  January  13,  we  were  up 
about  6  A.M.  A  light  snow  was  falling,  and  fine  ice 
crystals  made  the  sky  hazy.  There  was  a  light  wind 
blowing  from  about  south-south-east.  About  8  a.m. 
the  sun  peeped  through  wth  promise  of  a  fine  day. 
We  had  had  much  discussion  during  and  after  break- 
fast as  to  our  future  movements.  The  change  in 
the  position  of  the  Pole  necessitated  of  course  a 
change  in  our  plans.     JNIawson  carefully  reviewed  his 

Vol.  11.-12  177 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

observations  as  to  the  liosition  of  the  JNIagnetic  Pole, 
and  decided  that  in  order  to  reach  it  we  would  need  to 
travel  for  another  four  days.  The  horizontally  moving 
needle  had  now  almost  ceased  to  work.  ^Ve  decided 
to  go  on  for  another  four  days  and  started  our 
sledging.  It  was  a  cold  day  with  a  light  wind.  The 
temperature  at  about  10.30  a.m.  being  minus  6°  Fahr. 
At  noon  INIawson  took  a  magnetic  reading  with  the 
Lloyd-Creak  dip  circle,  which  was  now  fifty  minutes 
off  the  vertical,  that  is,  89''  10'.  At  noon  the  latitude 
was  just  about  73°  South.  The  sastrugi  were  now 
longer  and  liigher  than  usual,  and  there  were  two 
distinct  sets.  The  strongest  sastrugi  trended  from 
south  to  north;  a  subordinate  set  from  south-east  to  north- 
west.   That  day  we  sledged  thirteen  miles. 

January  14. — The  day  w-as  gloriously  clear  and 
bright  with  a  warm  sun.  A  gentle  wind  was  blowing 
from  about  south-south-east,  and  there  was  a  little 
cumulus  cloud  far  ahead  of  us  over  the  horizon.  The 
surface  of  the  snow  over  which  we  were  sledging  was 
sparkling  with  large  reconstructed  ice  crystals,  about 
half  an  inch  in  width  and  one-sixteenth  of  an  inch  in 
thickness.  These  crystals  form  on  this  plateau  during 
w^arm  days  when  the  sun's  heat  leads  to  a  gentle  up- 
w^ard  streaming  of  the  cold  air  with  a  small  amount 
of  moisture  in  it  from  beneath.  Under  these  influences 
combined  -Hith  the  thawing  of  the  surface  snow,  these 
large  and  beautiful  ice  crystals  form  rapidly  in  a  single 
day.  We  observe  that  after  every  still  sunny  day  a 
crop  of  these  crystals  develops  on  the  surface  of  the 
neve,  and  remains  there  until  the  next  wind  blows 
them  off.  They  form  a  layer  about  half  an  inch  in 
thickness  over  the  top  of  the  neve.  In  the  bright  sun- 
light the  neve,  covered  with  these  sheets  of  bright 
reflecting  ice  crystals,  glittered  like  a  sea  of  diamonds. 

178 


AT  THE   MAGNETIC  POLE 

The  heavy  runners  of  our  sledge  rustled  gently  as  they 
crushed  the  crystals  by  the  thousand.  It  seemed  a 
sacrilege.  The  sastrugi  were  large  and  high,  and  our 
sledge  bumped  very  heavily  over  them  with  a  prodigious 
rattling  of  our  aluminium  cooking-gear.  It  was  clear 
that  the  blizzard  winds  blow  over  tliis  part  of  the 
plateau  at  times  with  great  violence.  Apparently 
all  the  winds  in  this  quarter,  strong  enough  to  form 
sastrugi,  blow  from  south  or  west  of  south  or  from  the 
south-east.  Our  run  to-day  was  twelve  miles  one 
hundred  and  fifty  yards. 

January  15. — We  were  ujd  to-day  at  6  a.m.  and  found 
a  cold  southerly  breeze  blowing,  the  temperature  being 
minus  19°  Fahr.  at  6.30  a.m.  ISIawson  got  a  good  latitude 
determination  to-day,  72°  42'. 

At  about  t^\enty  minutes  before  tioie  noon  ^lawson 
took  magnetic  observations  with  the  dip  circle,  and 
found  the  angle  now  only  fifteen  minutes  off  the  vertical, 
the  dip  being  89°  45'.  We  were  very  much  rejoiced 
to  find  that  we  were  now  so  close  to  the  IMagnetic 
Pole.  The  observations  made  by  Bernacclii,  during  the 
two  years  of  the  Discovery  expedition's  sojourn  at  their 
winter  quarters  on  Ross  Island,  showed  that  the  ampti- 
tude  of  dailj^  swing  of  the  magnet  was  sometimes  con- 
siderable. The  compass,  at  a  distance  from  the  Pole, 
pointing  in  a  slightly  varymg  direction  at  different 
times  of  the  day,  indicates  that  the  polar  centre  executes 
a  dail}^  round  of  wanderings  about  its  mean  position. 
Mawson  considered  that  we  were  now  practically  at  the 
Magnetic  Pole,  and  that  if  Ave  were  to  wait  for  twenty- 
four  hours  taking  constant  observations  at  this  spot 
the  Pole  would,  probably,  during  that  time,  come 
vertically  beneath  us.  We  decided,  however,  to  go 
on  to  the  spot  Avhere  he  concluded  the  approximate 
mean  position  of  the  IMagnetic  Pole  would  lie.     That 

179 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

evening  the  dip  was  89°  4i8'.  The  run  for  the  day  was 
fourteen  niiles. 

From  the  rapid  rate  at  \\hich  the  dip  had  heen 
increasuig  recently,  as  well  as  from  a  compai'ison  of 
Bernacchi's  magnetic  observations,  Mawson  estimated 
that  we  were  now  about  thirteen  miles  distant  from 
the  j^robable  mean  position  of  the  South  JMagnetic 
Pole.  He  stated  that  in  order  to  accurately  locate 
the  mean  position  possibly  a  month  of  continuous 
observation  would  be  needed,  but  that  the  position  he 
indicated  was  now  as  close  as  we  could  locate  it. 
We  decided  accordingly,  after  discussing  the  matter 
full}'  that  night,  to  make  a  forced  march  of  thirteen 
miles  to  the  ajjproximate  mean  ])osition  of  the  Pole 
on  the  following  day,  put  up  the  flag  there,  and  return 
eleven  miles  back  on  our  tracks  the  same  day.  Our 
method  of  procedure  on  tliis  journey  of  twenty-four 
miles  is  described  in  the  journal  of  the  following  daj'. 

Saturday,  January  16. — We  were  up  at  about  6  a.m. 
and  after  breakfast  we  pulled  on  our  sledge  for  two 
miles.  We  then  depoted  all  our  heavy  gear  and  equip- 
ment with  the  exception  of  the  tent,  sleeping-bag, 
Primus  stove  and  cooker,  and  a  small  quantity  of  food, 
all  of  which  we  placed  on  the  sledge  together  with  the 
legs  of  the  dip  circle  and  those  of  the  theodolite  to 
serve  as  marks.  We  pulled  on  for  two  miles  and  fixed 
up  the  legs  of  the  dip  circle  to  guide  us  back  on  our 
track,  the  compass  moving  in  a  horizontal  plane  being 
now  useless  for  keeping  us  on  our  course.  At  two 
miles  further  we  fixed  up  the  legs  of  the  theodolite, 
and  two  miles  further  put  up  our  tent,  and  had  a  light 
lunch.  We  then  walked  five  miles  in  the  direction 
of  the  JMagnetic  Pole  so  as  to  place  us  in  the  mean 
position  calculated  for  it  by  ISIawson,  72°  25'  South 
latitude,  155°   16'  East  longitude.     ^lawson  placed  his 

180 


I  m     \  '  m;  I  H  I  i;\    ISk'iv  on    i  ii  i     I'l  \  i  i..\r. 


*        Pool  of  Thaw  Water  formed   by  the  emergence  of  a  Scb-Glacial  Stream  South-east  of 

Mount  Larsen 


THE  FLAG  HOISTED 

camera  so  as  to  focus  the  whole  group,  and  arranged 
a  trigger  which  would  be  released  by  means  of  a  string 
held  in  our  hands  so  as  to  make  the  exposure  by  means 
of  the  focal  plane  shutter.  Meanwhile,  Mackay  and  I 
fixed  up  the  flag-pole.  We  then  bared  our  heads  and 
hoisted  the  Union  Jack  at  3.30  p.m.  with  the  words 
uttered  by  myself  in  conformity  with  Lieutenant 
Shackleton's  instnjctions,  "  I  hereby  take  possession 
of  this  area  now  containing  the  JVIagnetic  Pole  for  the 
British  Empire."  At  the  same  time  I  fired  the  trigger 
of  the  camera  by  pulling  the  string.  Thus  the  group  were 
photographed  in  the  manner  shown  on  the  plate. 
The  blurred  liiie  connected  with  my  right  hand  repre- 
sents the  part  of  the  string  in  focus  blown  from  side  to 
side  by  the  wind.  Then  we  gave  three  cheers  for  his 
Majesty  the  King. 

There  was  a  pretty  sky  at  the  time  to  the  north 
of  us  with  low  cumulus  clouds,  and  we  speculated  at 
the  time  as  to  whether  it  was  possible  that  an  arm 
of  the  sea,  such  as  would  produce  the  moisture  to  form 
the  cumulus,  might  not  be  very  far  distant.  In  view 
of  our  subsequent  discoverj^  of  a  deep  indent  in  the 
coast-line  in  a  southerly  direction  beyond  Cape  North, 
it  is  possible  that  the  sea  at  tliis  point  is  at  no  very  con- 
siderable distance. 

The  temperature  at  the  time  we  hoisted  the  flag 
was  exactly  0°  Fahr.  It  was  an  intense  satisfaction 
and  relief  to  all  of  us  to  feel  that  at  last  after  so  many 
days  of  toil,  hardship  and  danger  we  had  been  able 
to  carry  out  our  leader's  instructions,  and  to  fulfil 
the  wish  of  Sir  James  Clarke  Ross  that  the  South 
Magnetic  Pole  should  be  actually  reached,  as  he  had 
already  in  1831  reached  the  North  Magnetic  Pole. 
At  the  same  time  we  were  too  utterly  weary  to  be 
capable    of    any    great    amount    of    exultation.     I    am 

181 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

sure  the  feeling  the  was  uppermost  in  all  of  us  was  one 
of  devout  and  heartfelt  thankfulness  to  the  kind  Provi- 
dence which  had  so  far  guided  our  footsteps  in  safety 
to  that  goal.  With  a  fervent  "  Thank  God  "  we  all  did 
a  right-about  turn,  and  as  quick  a  march  as  tired 
limbs  would  allow  back  m  the  direction  of  our  little  green 
tent  in  the  wilderness  of  snow. 

It  was  a  weary  tramp  back  over  the  hard  and  high 
sastrugi  and  we  were  very  thankful  when  at  last  we  saw 
a  small  dark  cone,  which  we  knew  was  our  tent,  rising 
from  above  the  distant  snow  ridges.  On  reaching  the 
tent  we  each  had  a  little  cocoa,  a  biscuit  and  a  small 
lump  of  chocolate.  We  then  sledged  slowly  and  wearily 
back,  picking  up  first  the  legs  of  the  theodolite,  then  those 
of  the  dip  circle,  and  finally  reached  our  depot  a  little 
before  10  p.m. 

In  honour  of  the  event  we  treated  ourselves  that 
night  to  a  hoosh,  which  though  modest  was  larger 
in  volume  than  usual,  and  was  immensely  enjoyed. 
Mawson  repacked  the  sledge  after  hoosli  time,  and 
we  turned  into  the  sleeping-bag  faint  and  weary,  but 
happy  witli  the  great  load  of  apprehension  of  possible 
failure,  that  had  been  hanging  over  us  for  so  many 
weeks,  at  last  removed  from  our  minds.  We  all  slept 
soundly  after  twenty-four  miles  of  travel. 


Ci^apter  Ctoeliie 

PROFESSOR  DAVID'S  NARRATIVE  {CmHnued) 

Coldly  thy  rosy  shadows  bathe  me,  cold 
Are  all  thy  lights,  and  cold  my  wrinkled   feet. 

Tennyson. 

T  CALLED  the  camp  at  a  little  before  10  a.m.  the  fol- 
-*■  lowing  morning.  We  now  discussed  the  situation  and 
our  chances  of  catching  the  Nimrod,  if  she  came  in  search 
of  us  along  the  coast  in  the  direction  of  our  depot  on  the 
Drygalski  Glacier.  We  had  agreed,  before  we  decided  to 
do  the  extra  four  days'  march  to  the  sliifted  position 
of  the  Magnetic  Pole,  that  on  our  return  journey  we 
would  do  not  less  than  thirteen  miles  a  day.  At  the 
Magnetic  Pole  we  were  fully  260  statute  miles  distant, 
as  the  skua  flies,  from  our  depot  on  the  Drygalski  Glacier. 
As  we  had  returned  eleven  of  these  miles  on  the  day 
previous  we  still  had  249  miles  to  cover.  It  was  now 
January  17,  and  the  Nimrod  was  due  to  start  to  search 
for  us  on  February  1.  As  there  was  of  course  jilenty  of 
sunlight  day  and  night,  we  thought  it  quite  possible 
that  she  might  be  up  to  the  Drygalski  Glacier  on  February 
2 — possibly  on  the  morning  of  that  day.  We  accord- 
ingly decided  to  try  and  make  back  to  our  Drygalski 
depot  by  February  1.  This  gave  us  fifteen  days.  Con- 
sequently we  would  have  to  average  sixteen  and  two- 
thirds  miles  a  day  in  order  to  reach  the  coast  in  the  time 
specified.  This  of  course  did  not  allow  of  any  delay 
on  account  of  blizzards,  and  we  had  seen  from  the 
evidence  of  the  large  sastrugi  that  blizzards  of  great 

183 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

violence  must  occasionally  blow  in  these  quarters, 
and  from  the  direction  of  the  sastrugi  during  our  last 
few  days'  march  it  was  clear  that  the  dominant  direc- 
tion of  the  blizzard  would  be  exactly  in  our  teeth.  The 
prospect,  therefore,  of  reaching  our  depot  in  the  speci- 
fied time  did  not  appear  bright.  Providentially  we 
had  most  beautiful  and  glorious  weather  for  our  start 
on  January  17.  It  remained  fine  for  the  whole  day, 
and  we  were  greatly  favoured  by  a  light  wind  which  now 
blew  from  between  north-west  and  west-north-west — 
a  perfectly  fair  wind  for  our  journey.  In  fact  the 
wind  changed  direction  with  us.  It  had  helped  us  by 
blowing  from  the  south-east,  just  before  we  reached 
the  Magnetic  Pole,  and  now  it  was  blowing  in  tlie  oppo- 
site direction,  helping  us  home.  That  day,  m  sjiite  of  the 
late  start,  we  sledged  sixteen  miles. 

On  January  18  the  weather  again  was  fine,  and 
we  had  a  hard  day's  sledging.  Unfortunately  ]Mawson's 
left  leg  became  very  lame  and  pained  him  a  good 
deal.  There  was  a  strong  radiant  in  the  clouds  towards 
the  north-west,  and  we  were  a  little  apprehensive  of 
the  wind  in  consequence.  Our  run  for  the  day  was 
sixteen  miles  two  hundred  yards.  Tliis  was  the  end  of 
my  week's  cooking,  and  we  were  able  to  indulge  that 
night  in  a  fairly  abundant  hoosh,  also  in  very  milky  and 
sweet  cocoa,  and  JNIackay  admitted  that  he  actually  felt 
moderately  full  after  it  for  the  first  time  since  we  had 
left  the  Drygalski  Depot. 

The  following  day,  January  19,  we  boiled  the  hypso- 
meter  at  our  camp,  and  found  the  level  to  be  about 
73.50  ft.  above  the  sea.  The  boiling-point  was  196.75° 
Fahr.  There  was  a  cold  fresh  wind  blowng  from  the 
south-east,  a  head  wind  for  us,  the  temperature  at  the  time 
being  minus  11°  Fahr.  There  were  still  low  cumulus 
clouds  to  the  north  of  us.     The  vAnd  freshened  in  the 

184 


SUGAR  IN  THE   HOOSH 

afternoon  to  a  mild  blizzard,  and  we  found  pulling 
against  it  very  severe  work.  That  morning  we  had  quite 
an  unusual  diversion.  Mawson,  who  is  a  bold  culinary 
exiJerinienter,  being  messman  for  the  week,  tried  the 
experiment  of  surrejititiously  introducing  a  lump  of  sugar 
into  the  pemmican.  JMackay  detected  an  unusual  flavour 
in  the  hoosh,  and  cross-questioned  Mawson  severely  on 
the  subject.  JNlawson  admitted  a  lump  of  sugar. 
JMackay  was  thereupon  roused  to  a  high  jjitch  of  indigna- 
tion, and  stated  that  tliis  awful  state  of  affairs  was  the 
result  of  going  out  sledging  with  "  two  foreigners." 
This  mild  blizzard  partly  obliterated  our  old  sledge 
tracks  by  piling  over  them  new  sastrugi  of  fine  hard  snow. 
We  had  a  great  struggle  that  day  to  make  our  sixteen 
miles,  but  fortunately  the  blizzard  slackened  off  towards 
9  P.M.,  and  we  just  managed  it. 

Owing  to  some  miscalculation,  for  which  I  was 
responsible,  we  discovered  that  we  had  no  tea  for  this 
week,  our  sixth  week  out,  unless  we  took  it  out  of  the 
tea-bag  for  the  seventh  w^eek.  Accordingly  we  halved 
the  tea  in  the  seventh  week  bag,  and  determined  to 
collect  our  old  tea-bags  at  each  of  our  old  camps  as  we 
passed  them,  and  boil  these  bags  together  with  the 
small  pittance  of  fresh  tea.  And  here  I  may  mention 
the  tastes  of  the  party  in  the  matter  of  tea  somewhat 
differed.  JMackay  liked  his  tea  thoroughly  well  and 
long  boiled,  whereas  JMawson  and  I  liked  it  made 
by  just  bringing  the  Avater  to  the  boil;  as  soon  as 
we  smelt  the  aroma  of  tea  coming  from  underneath 
the  outer  lid  of  the  cooker  we  used  to  shut  off  the 
Primus  lamp  immediately  and  decant  the  tea  into  the 
pannikins.  JMackay  had  always  objected  to  this  pro- 
cedure when  we  were  sledging  along  the  sea  ice  where 
water  boils  at  about  212°  Fahr. ;  now,  however,  he  had 
a  strong  scientific  argument  in  his  favour  for  keeping 

185 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

the  pot  boiling  for  a  few  minutes  after  the  tea  had 
been  put  in.  He  pointed  out  that  at  our  present 
altitude  water  boiled  at  just  over  196°  Fahr.,  a  tempera- 
ture which  he  maintained  was  insuilicient  to  extract 
the  proper  juices  and  flavour  from  the  tea,  unless  the 
boiling  was  very  much  prolonged.  Mawson,  however, 
averred — on  chemical  and  physical  grounds — that  with 
the  diminished  atmosiiheric  pressure  certain  virtuous 
constituents  of  the  tea  could  be  extracted  at  a  lower 
temperature.  The  discussion  was  highly  scientific  and 
exhilarating,  though  not  very  finite.  It  was  agreed 
as  a  compromise  to  allow  the  boiling  to  continue  for 
three  or  four  minutes  after  the  water  had  come  to  the 
boil  before  the  tea  was  poured  out.  As  in  our  progress 
coastwards  we  were  continually  coming  upon  more  old 
tea-bags  at  our  old  camps,  and  always  collected  these 
and  did  not  tlirow  away  any  that  had  been  used  before 
we  soon  had  quite  an  imposing  collection  of  muslin  bags 
with  old  tea  leaves,  and  with  the  thorough  boiling  that 
they  now  got  there  was  a  strong  flavour  of  muslin 
superadded  to  that  of  old  tea.  Nevertheless  this  drink 
was  nectar. 

January  20. — ^^Ve  were  still  able  to-day  to  follow 
our  sledge  tracks,  which  was  a  great  blessing,  the 
magnetic  needle  being  of  so  little  use  to  us.  We  had 
the  wind  slightly  against  us  bringing  up  a  little  low 
drift.  Again  we  made  our  sixteen-mile  run,  tliough 
with  great  difficulty,  for  the  wind  had  been  blowing  freshly 
all  day  on  our  starboard  bow. 

In  view  of  the  good  progress  that  we  had  made, 
and  after  carefully  calculating  out  the  provisions  left 
over,  INIawson,  who  was  at  this  time  messman,  pro- 
posed that  we  should  return  to  nearly  full  rations, 
as  we  were  becoming  much  exhausted  through  insuffi- 

186 


RAPID   MARCHING 

cient  food.  This  proposal  was,  of  course,  hailed  with 
dehght. 

On  January  21  there  was  a  light  wind  with  low 
temperature,  clear  sky  and  hot  sun,  which  combined 
to  consolidate  the  surface  over  wliich  we  were  sledging. 
By  this  time  Mackay  and  Mawson's  raw  lips,  which  had 
been  cracked  and  bleeding  for  about  a  fortnight  pre- 
viously, were  now  much  better.  JNIawson's  lame  leg 
had  also  improved.  Again  we  did  our  sixteen-mile 
run. 

January  22. — We  were  up  soon  after  7  a.m.  It 
was  a  clear  day  with  bright  sunshine.  The  wind  started 
soon  after  5  a.m.,  constantly  freshening,  as  it  usually 
did  in  tiais  part  of  the  plateau,  till  about  3  p.m.  Then 
it  gradually  died  down  by  about  10  p.m.  The  tempera- 
ture at  7.15  A.M.  was  minus  20°  Falir.,  and  at  this  altitude 
we  found  the  wind  at  tliis  temperature  very  trying. 
To-day  we  had  to  sledge  over  a  great  deal  of  pie-crust 
snow,  wiiich  was  very  fatiguing.  Again  we  did  sixteen 
miles.  We  had  since  the  day  before  yesterday  lost  our 
old  sledge  tracks.  Mackay  earned  a  pound  of  tobacco, 
to  be  given  him  when  we  returned  to  civilisation,  by  being 
the  fii-st  to  make  the  "  land  fall  " — new  mountain,  Avest  of 
JMount  New  Zealand — which  showed  out  now  in  the  far 
distance  very  faintly  a  little  to  the  left  of  our  course.  It 
was  a  welcome  sight  to  all  of  us.  To-day  we  sledged 
fifteen  miles. 

January  23. — The  weather  was  bright  and  cold 
■nith  a  light  southerly  wind.  This  day  was  very 
fatiguing,  the  sledging  being  over  patches  of  soft  snow 
and  pie-crust  snow.  At  the  same  time  we  were  con- 
scious now  that  although  we  were  sledging  up  and 
dowTi  wide  undulations  we  were  on  the  whole  going 
down  hill,  and  the  new  mountain  was  already  showing 
up    as    an    impressive    massif.    The    air   was    cold    and 

187 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

piercing.  Mawson's  right  leg  was  still  painful.  That 
night  we  were  all  very  much  exhausted,  and  were 
obhged  to  allow  ourselves  fully  eight  hours  sleep.  Our 
run  was  sixteen  miles. 

January  24. — To-day  we  had  more  heavy  sledging 
over  a  lot  of  pie-crust  snow  and  soft  snow.  The  wind 
was  blowing  somewhat  against  us  at  about  twelve  miles 
an  hour,  the  temperature  Ijeing  minus  4  Falir.  in  the 
afternoon.  A  low  drift  was  sweeping  in  waves  over  the 
snow  desert;  it  w'as  a  desolate  scene.  Later  in  the 
day  we  were  cheered  by  the  sight  of  ISIount  Raxter. 

Towards  evening  we  had  some  discussion  as  to 
whether  w-e  were  following  approximately  our  old  out- 
going tracks.  ]Mackay  thought  we  were  nearer  to  the 
new  mountain  than  before,  1  thought  we  were  further 
to  the  south-west,  JMawson,  who  was  leading,  con- 
tended that  we  were  pretty  well  on  our  old  course.  Just 
then  I  discovered  that  we  were  actually  on  our  old 
sledge  tracks,  which  showed  up  plainly  for  a  short 
distance  between  the  newly  formed  sastrugi.  This 
spoke  volumes  for  jNIawson's  skill  as  a  navigator.  Dis- 
tance sledged  sixteen  miles. 

January  25. — It  was  blowing  a  mild  blizzard.  We 
estimated  at  lunch  time  that  we  Avere  about  eighty  and 
a  half  miles  distant  now  from  our  INIoimt  Larsen  Depot. 
The  temperature  during  the  afternoon  was  minus  3^  Fahr. 
We  all  felt,  as  usual,  much  fatigued  after  the  day's 
sledging.  For  the  past  four  or  five  days  we  each  took  an 
Easton  SATup  tabloid  for  the  last  stage  but  one  before 
reaching  camp,  and  this  certainly  helped  to  keep  us 
going.  This  evening  the  blizzard  died  down  about 
8  P.M.,  and  Mount  Nansen  was  sighted  just  before  we 
camped. 

January  26. — We  lost  our  old  sledge  tracks  again 
to-day.     The  weather  turned  cloudy  in  the  afternoon, 

188 


A  DIFFICULT  DESCENT 

and  the  light  was  very  bad.  We  now  reached  a  surface 
of  hard  marble-hke  neve,  which  descended  by  short 
steep  slopes.  We  did  not  at  first  realise  that  we  were 
about  to  descend  what  we  had  termed  the  Ice  Falls  on 
the  outward  journey.  Every  now  and  then  the  sledge 
would  take  charge  and  rush  do\\n  tliis  marble  stair- 
case, bumping  very  heavily  over  the  steps.  jNIawson 
and  I  frequently  came  hea\y  cropj^ers.  ]Mawson  put 
on  crampons  outside  his  finnesko  to  enable  him  to 
get  a  grip  of  the  slippery  surface,  but  my  crampons 
were  frozen  so  hard  and  so  out  of  shape  that  I  was 
unable  to  get  them  on,  so  I  followed  behind  and  steadied 
the  sledge  as  it  continued  bumjjing  its  way  down  the 
marble  steps.  At  last  we  reached  once  more  a  flattened 
surface  and  camped.  Our  run  for  the  day  was  fourteen 
and  a  half  miles. 

January  27. — This  morning  we  all  felt  very  slack 
after  the  night  spent  in  the  closely  covered  sleeping 
bag,  the  sky  at  the  time  being  cloudy.  Under  these 
circumstances,  as  we  now  had  come  down  from  our 
highest  altitude  by  about  4000  ft.,  and  the  tempera- 
ture of  course,  had  somewhat  risen,  we  felt  stifled  and 
depressed.  During  the  morning  fine  snow  fell  and  the 
weather  was  quite  thick  to  the  south  and  east  of  us. 
INIawson  steered  us  by  the  trend  of  the  sastrugi.  As 
the  day  wore  on,  the  weather  cleared  up  and  we  had  a 
good  view  of  the  new  mountain,  JNIount  New  Zealand, 
and  Mount  Baxter.  The  pulling  at  first  was  very  hard 
work,  being  up-hill,  but  later  we  had  a  good  run  down 
hill  to  the  spot  where  we  camped  for  lunch.  After  lunch 
we  sledged  down  a  still  steeper  slope,  the  sledge  occasion- 
ally take  charge.  At  this  spot  Mackay  partially  fell 
into  a  crevasse.  To-day  we  were  much  cheered  by  the 
sight  at  last  of  ]Mount  Larsen.  Ey  the  time  we  reached 
the  spot  where  w^e  camped  that  night  we  had  a  good  clear 

189 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

view  of  Larsen.  The  distance  travelled  was  sixteen 
miles.  We  were  now  only  about  forty  miles  from  our 
31omit  Larsen  Depot. 

Januarij  28. — We  turned  out  of  the  sleej^ing-bag  to- 
day at  about  6.30  a.m.  A  blizzard  was  blowing,  and 
after  breakfast  we  had  much  difficulty  in  the  cold  wind 
in  getting  up  the  mast  and  sail.  IVIackay,  who  usually 
did  the  greater  part  of  this  work,  got  his  hands  rather 
badly  frost-bitten  before  our  preparations  were  com- 
pleted. We  used  the  thick  green  canvas  floorcloth  as  a 
sail;  the  tent-poles  sened  us  for  a  mast,  and  a  piece  of 
bamboo  did  duty  as  a  yard. 

The  wind  ^vas  blo^^^ng  at,  perhaps,  about  twenty- 
five  miles  an  hour,  and  as  soon  as  we  started  the  sledge, 
it  began  to  travel  at  such  a  hot  pace  that  ^lackay  and 
]Mawson,  with  their  long  legs,  were  kept  walking  at  the 
top  of  their  speed,  while  I,  with  my  shorter  ones,  was 
kept  on  a  jog  trot.  Occasionally,  in  an  extra  strong 
puff  of  wind,  the  sledge  took  charge.  On  one  of  these 
occasions  it  suddenly  charged  into  me  from  behind, 
knocked  my  legs  from  under  me,  and  nearly  jugger- 
nauted  me.  I  M'as  quickly  rescued  from  this  unchgnified 
position  under  the  sledge  runners  by  ]Mawson  and 
JMackay.  ^Ve  had  now  arrived  at  a  part  of  the  jjlateau 
where  the  monotonous  level  or  gently  undulating  surface 
gave  place  to  sharp  descents.  It  was  necessary  in  these 
cases  for  one  of  us  to  untoggle  from  the  front  of  the 
sledge  and  to  toggle  on  behind,  so  as  to  steer  and  steady 
it.  About  noon,  when  we  were  in  full  career,  the  bow 
of  the  sledge  struck  one  of  the  high  sastrugi  obliquely 
and  the  sledge  was  capsized  heavily,  but  fortunately 
notliing  was  broken.  After  righting  the  sledge  we 
camped  for  lunch. 

At  lunch,  with  a  faint  hope  of  softening  the  stern 
heart  of  our  messman  for  the  week — jNIackay — and  in- 

190 


THE  DEPOT  REACHED 

ducing  him  to  give  us  an  extra  ration  of  food,  I  mUdly 
informed  laim  that  it  was  my  birthday.  He  took  the 
hint  and  we  all  fared  sumptuously  at  lunch  and  dinner 
that  day.  The  day's  run  was  twenty  miles.  It  had 
been  one  of  the  most  fatiguing  days  that  we  had  as  yet 
experienced,  and  we  were  all  utterly  exhausted  when  we 
turned  into  our  sleeping-bag  at  8.30  p.ii. 

January  29. — We  were  up  at  about  8  a.m.,  and  found 
that  the  plateau  wind  was  still  blowing  at  a  speed  of 
about  fifteen  miles  an  hour.  After  our  experience  of 
the  preceding  day  we  decided  that  we  would  not  make 
sail  on  the  sledge,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact,  found  that 
pulling  the  sledge  in  the  ordinary  way  was  far  less 
wearj'ing  than  the  sailing  had  proved  the  preceding 
day.  We  pulled  on  steadily  hour  after  hour,  and 
jMounts  Xansen  and  Larsen  grew  every  moment  clearer 
and  larger,  and  we  began  to  hope  that  we  might  be  able 
to  reach  our  depot  at  INIount  Larsen  that  night.  After 
we  had  sledged  about  ten  miles,  descending  at  a  gentle 
grade  all  the  way,  we  found  that  there  was  a  slight 
up  grade  in  the  snow  surface  towards  the  foot  of  Blount 
Larsen,  but  it  was  not  steep  enough  to  cause  us  any 
trouble.  But  later  in  the  day  IMawson's  sprained  leg 
caused  him  a  good  deal  of  pain,  and  we  had  almost  de- 
cided to  camp  at  a  point  nearly  twenty  miles  from  our 
preceding  camp,  when  JVIackay's  sharp  eyes  sighted,  at 
a  distance  of  about  a  mile,  our  little  blue  flag,  tied  to 
the  ice-axe  at  our  depot.  We  soon  reached  the  depot, 
fixed  up  the  tent,  had  a  good  hoosh,  and  turned  into  the 
sleeping-bag  past  midnight. 

We  were  up  at  9  a.m.  on  January  30.  The  day  was 
sunny,  but  ominous  clouds  were  gathering  overhead  as 
well  as  to  the  south.  After  breakfast  we  collected  the 
material  at  our  depot,  chiefly  ski-boots,  ice-axes,  oil, 
a  little  food,  and  geological  specimens,  and  loaded  these 

191 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

on  to  our  sledge.  We  found  that,  owing  to  the  alternate 
thawing  and  freezing  of  the  snow  at  our  depot,  our  ski- 
boots  were  almost  filled  with  solid  ice.  The  work  of 
chipping  out  this  ice  proved  a  slow  and  tedious  job,  and 
we  did  not  get  started  untU  about  11  A.ai.  Soon  after 
we  got  going  we  found  ourselves  for  a  time  in  a  mesh- 
work  of  crevasses.  These  were  from  a  foot  up  to  about 
twenty  feet  in  width.  Nearly  all  of  them  were  roofed 
over  with  a  hard  layer  of  snow.  The  only  visible  evi- 
dence of  the  existence  of  a  crevasse  was  a  slight  de- 
pression in  the  snow  surface  at  the  inner  edges  of  the 
two  walls  bounding  the  crevasses,  the  whole  of  the  snow 
roof  or  lid  being  slightly  counter-sunk  below  the  general 
level  of  the  surrounding  snow  surface. 

This,  however,  was  not  always  the  case,  and  crevasses 
not  infrequently  existed  entirely  concealed  from  view 
under  a  perfectly  smooth  hard  snow  surface.  On  ac- 
count of  the  fact,  as  ah-eady  explained,  that  the  snow 
lids  were  thinner  next  to  the  walls  of  the  crevass,  and 
thicker  towards  a  position  central  between  the  walls, 
we  alwaj's  used  to  take  care,  if  we  could  see  the  little 
depression  in  the  snow  surface — a  sure  indication  of  a 
crevasse — not  to  put  our  foot  down  near  tlie  edge  of  the 
depression,  but  to  alight  on  the  snow  lid  some  feet  away 
from  the  crevasse  wall. 

On  stepping  out  on  to  one  of  these  snow  lids  a  large 
piece  suddenly  gave  way  under  me,  and  I  was  instantly 
precipitated  into  the  chasm  below,  but  fortunately 
caught  the  Alpine  rope  under  my  arm  as  I  was  falling; 
this  broke  the  force  of  the  jerk  on  my  sledge  harness. 
I  was  down  about  six  feet  below  the  snow  lid,  and  ^lawson 
and  ISIackay  holding  on  to  the  harness  and  Alpine  ropes 
wliich  were  supporting  me,  I  was  able  to  climb  out 
quickly,  and  we  resumed  our  journey.  Shortly  after 
this,  and  after  crossing  a  number  of  other  crevasses,  we 

192 


A  QUESTION  OF  ROUTE 

discovered  that  tlie  wheel  of  our  sledge  meter  had 
disappeared.  Probably  it  had  got  into  one  of  the 
crevasses,  and  gone  to  the  bottom.  As  we  were  now 
so  close  to  the  end  of  our  journey,  the  loss  of  this,  wliich 
earlier  in  our  travels  would  have  been  a  serious  disaster, 
was  not  of  much  importance.  We  had  run  about 
eight  miles  before  this  lunch,  previous  to  the  loss  of  our 
sledge  meter  wheel.  At  lunch-time  Mawson  compounded 
a  wonderful  new  hoosh  made  out  of  seal  liver,  pounded 
up  with  a  geological  hammer,  and  mixed  with  crushed 
biscuit. 

We  had  some  discussion  as  to  whether  it  would  be 
better  to  descend  on  to  the  sea  ice  by  the  old  track  up 
which  we  had  come,  which  we  termed  Backstairs  Passage, 
or  make  down  the  main  Larsen  Glacier  to  the  point 
where  it  junctioned  with  the  Drygalski  Glacier.  JNIackay 
was  in  favour  of  the  former,  Mawson  and  I  of  the  latter. 
Mackay  thought  the  devil  one  knew  was  better  than 
the  devil  one  didn't  know,  wliile  Mawson  and  I  feared 
that  during  the  thaw,  which  was  rapidly  breaking  up 
the  sea  ice  at  the  time  when  we  were  ascending  the 
plateau,  the  ice  might  have  gone  away  from  the  base 
of  Backstairs  Passage  right  up  to  the  steep  granite  cliiFs 
of  the  coast.  Had  this  been  the  case,  and  had  we 
descended  by  our  old  route,  we  should  have  had  to 
retrace  our  steps  and  become  involved  in  a  very  arduous 
upliill  piece  of  sledging  necessitating  an  ascent  of  at 
least  1000  to  1500  ft.  in  a  distance  of  a  Uttle  over  a 
mile.  As  subsequent  events  proved,  Mackay  was  right  and 
we  were  wrong. 

We  held  on  down  the  main  glacier  with  the  imposing 
cliffs  and  slopes  of  dark-red  granite  and  blackish  eruptive 
rock  intermixed  with  it  close  on  our  left.  Mawson's 
leg  was  now  so  bad  that  it  was  only  with  considerable 
pain   and    difficulty   that   he   could    proceed,    and   both 

Vol.  n.-i8  193 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Mackay's  and  my  eyes  were  affected  a  good  deal  by  snow- 
blindness  and  were  painful.  We  found  as  we  advanced 
that  at  about  six  miles  easterly  from  our  lunch  camp, 
the  surface  of  the  JMount  Larsen  Glacier  descended  at 
a  very  steep  angle.  Somewhat  ahead  to  the  right  it 
was  clear  that,  where  it  junctioned  with  the  Drygalski 
Glacier,  it  was  seamed  by  enormous  crevasses  and 
traversed  by  strong  pressure  ridges.  We  held  on  with 
our  sledge  on  a  course  which  took  us  close  to  the  north 
side  of  the  glacier.  At  last  the  descent  became  so  steep 
that  it  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  we  could 
hold  the  sledge  back  and  prevent  its  charging  down 
the  slope.  We  halted  here  and  INIackay  went  ahead  to 
reconnoitre.  Presently  he  came  back  and  said  that 
the  narrow  strip  of  snow  covering  the  glacier  ice,  near 
its  contact  with  the  rocky  cliffs  on  our  left,  was  con- 
tinuous right  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  slope,  and  he 
thought  it  was  practicable,  if  we  made  rope  brakes  for 
the  runners  on  our  sledge,  to  lower  it  down  this  steep 
slope  in  safety.  He  fixed  on  some  brakes  of  brown 
tarred  rope  by  just  twisting  the  rope  spirall}^  around 
the  sledge  runners.  We  then  cautiously  started  the 
sledge  down  the  steepest  bit  of  the  slope,  all  of  us  ready 
to  let  go  in  case  the  sledge  took  charge.  The  rope 
brake  worked  wonders,  and  it  was  even  necessarj'  to 
put  a  slight  puU  on  the  sledge  in  places  in  order  to  get 
it  down  the  steep  snow  surface.  We  had  left  the  great 
crevasses  and  ice  falls  near  the  junction  of  the  Mount 
Larsen  and  Drygalski  Glaciers  a  little  to  our  right. 

We  now  found  ourselves  on  an  ice-surface  quite 
unlike  anything  which  we  had  hitherto  experienced. 
In  the  foreground  were  some  small  frozen  lakes  close  to 
the  foot  of  the  granite  hills;  on  the  far  side  of  the  lakes 
were  beautiful  glacial  moraines.  All  around  the  lakes, 
and  for  a  considerable  distance  up  the  ice  slopes  de- 

194 


NEW  ICE  FORMATION 

scending  towards  them,  the  sui-face  of  the  ice  was  formed 
of  a  series  of  large  thin  anastomosing  curved  plates  of 
ice.  These  were  pieced  together  in  such  a  way  as  to 
form  a  pattern  on  a  large  scale  resembling  the  cups  of 
some  of  the  recent  compound  corals,  or  the  ancient 
extinct  form  known  to  geologists  as  Alveolites^  These 
cun'cd  ice  plates  or  tiles  sloped  at  an  angle  of  about 
45",  and  formed,  of  course,  an  immense  obstruction  to 
sledging,  as  their  sharp  edges  caught  and  held  our 
sledge  runners.  We  found,  too,  that  it  was  very  dis- 
tressing travelling  over  tliis  extraordinary'-  surface, 
which,  from  a  scenic  point  of  view,  was  exquisitely 
beautiful.  As  we  stepjjed  forwards,  out  feet  usually 
crashed  through  the  ice  tiles,  and  our  legs  were  im- 
bedded in  the  formation  up  to  our  knees.  Frequently, 
under  these  circumstances,  we  would  stumble  forwards, 
and  had  some  difficulty  in  dragging  our  legs  out.  It 
was  like  sledging  over  a  ■wilderness  of  glass  cucumber- 
frames  set  up  at  an  angle  of  4>5\  Another  moment  one 
would  find  the  tiles  thick  enough  and  strong  enough  to 
support  one,  but  their  surfaces  being  at  an  angle  of 
45°  to  the  horizontal,  our  feet  would  slip  down  them 
sideways  and  we  ran  an  inmiinent  risk  of  spraining  our 
ankles.  At  every  step  we  took  we  did  not  know  until 
after  the  event  which  of  the  above  two  experiences 
would  follow. 

After  sledging  for  a  short  distance  over  surfaces  of 
this  kind,  sloping  somewhat  steeply  to  the  small  lakes, 
we  decided  to  camp  on  the  pale  green  ice  of  one  of 
these  lakes.  ^lawson  tested  this  ice  and  found  that 
it  was  strong  enough  to  hold,  though  evidently  of  no 
great  thickness.  We  sledged  along  this  lake  for  a 
few  hundred  yards  to  its  north-east  end.  There  was 
a  little  snow  here  which  would  do  for  loading  the  skirt 
of  our  tent.     By  this  time  the  sky  was  thickly  over- 

195 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

cast.  We  fixed  up  the  tent,  chopping  httle  holes  in  the 
surface  of  the  smooth  ice,  in  which  to  socket  the  ends  of 
the  tent-poles,  and  while  JSlackay  cooked,  Mawson  and 
I  snowed  the  skirt.  This  was  subsequent  to  a  httle 
reconnoitring  Avhich  we  each  did.  It  was  2  a.m.  before 
we  camped  on  the  lake  ice,  and  4  a.m.  before  we  turned 
into  our  sleeping-bag. 

Close  to  our  tent  was  the  most  beautiful  lateral 
moraine  wliich  we  had  yet  discovered.  It  was  formed 
of  blocks  of  bright  red  granite,  together  with  quartz 
porph3'ries  with  much  rusty  stain  due  to  oxidation  of 
iron  pyrites,  and  masses  of  dark  bro^m  rocks,  niore 
basic,  perhaps  of  an  intermediate  character  between 
granite  and  diorite.  We  found  that  immediately  to  the 
right  of  us,  in  an  easterly  direction — that  is,  directly 
between  us  and  our  depot  on  the  Drj'galski  Glacier — 
were  great  pressure  ridges  of  ice,  and  a  vast  entangle- 
ment of  crevasses.  In  fact,  in  that  direction  the 
glacier  seemed  impassable.  The  only  possible  outlet 
for  us  with  our  sledge  appeared  to  be  close  alongside 
of  the  lateral  moraine  at  the  point  where  the  glacier  ice 
joined  it.  Even  this  route  was  obviously  a  verj'  difficult 
one,  and  we  decided  before  we  turned  in  that  on  the 
morrow  we  should  have  to  unload  our  sledge  and  make 
a  portage,  or  a  plurality  of  portages.  The  ice  on  the 
small  lake  on  which  we  were  camped  was  only  between 
two  and  three  inches  tliick,  and  had  obviously  formed 
quite  recently  after  the  thaw.  It  commenced  to  thaw 
now  under  the  influence  of  the  warmth  of  our  sleeping- 
bag,  as  we  lay  in  it,  and  w-e  found  shallow  pools  of  water 
all  around  us  when  we  awoke  the  next  morning. 

Jam/an/  31. — We  were  up  about  11  a.m.,  having 
slept  soundly  after  the  very  exhausting  work  of  our 
previous  day's  sledging.  During  the  night  it  had  snowed 
heavily,  there  being  fully  from  three  to  four  inches  of 

196 


PRESSURE  RIDGES 

newly  fallen  snow  covering  everything  around  us,  and 
it  was  still  snowing  while  we  were  having  breakfast. 
After  breakfast  the  snow  nearly  ceased,  and  we  took 
half  the  load  off  our  sledge  and  started  with  the 
remainder  to  try  and  work  a  passage  out  of  the  ice-pres- 
sure ridges  of  the  combined  Drygalski  and  Larsen  Glaciers 
on  to  the  smoother  sea  ice,  and  eventually  on  to  the 
Drygalski  Ice  Barrier.  While  Mawson  and  Mackay 
pulled,  I  steadied  the  sledge  on  the  lower  side  in  round- 
ing the  steep  sidelings.  We  were  still  sledging  over  the 
leafy  or  tile  ice,  which  mostly  crunched  underfoot  with 
a  sharp  tinkling  sound.  We  skirted  the  lateral  moraine 
for  a  distance  of  over  half  a  mile,  following  a  depression 
in  the  ice-surface  apparently  produced  by  a  stream,  the 
outlet  of  the  waters  of  the  small  lakes.  At  one  spot 
JNIawson  crashed  right  through  into  the  water  beneath, 
and  got  wet  up  to  his  thighs.  In  spite  of  my  efforts  to 
keep  it  on  even  keel,  the  sledge  frequently  capsized  on 
these  steep  sidelings.  At  last,  after  stioiggling  up  and 
down  heavy  slopes,  and  over  low-lying  areas  of  rotten 
ice,  which  every  here  and  there  let  us  through  into  the 
water  beneath,  we  arrived  at  the  foot  of  an  immense 
ice-pressure  ridge.  It  was  a  romantic-looking  spot, 
though  at  the  time  we  did  not  exactly  appreciate  its 
beauties.  To  our  left  was  a  huge  cliff  of  massive  granite 
rising  up  steeply  to  heights  of  about  2000  ft.  The  com- 
bined pressure  of  the  Drygalski  and  Mount  Larsen 
Glaciers  had  forced  the  glacier  ice  up  into  great  ridges, 
trending  somewhat  obliquely  to  the  coast  cliff. 

We  went  back  to  the  tent  where  we  got  some  hot 
tea,  of  which  ]\Iawson,  particularly,  was  very  glad,  as 
he  was  somewhat  cooled  down  as  the  result  of  his 
wetting.  Then  we  packed  up  the  remainder  of  our 
belongings  on  the  sledge  and  dragged  it  down  to  where 
we  had  dumped  the  half  load  on  the  near  side  of  the  pres- 

197 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

sure  ridge.  !Mackay  reconnoitred  ahead,  and  found  that 
the  large-pressure  ridge,  which  appeared  to  bar  our  pro- 
gress towards  our  depot,  gradually  came  nearer  and  nearer 
in  to  the  granite  cliff,  until  it  pressed  hard  against  the 
cliff  face.  Obviously,  then,  we  were  impounded  by 
this  huge  pressure  ridge,  and  would  have  to  devise  some 
mean  of  getting  over  it.  Taking  our  ice-axes  we 
smoothed  a  passage  across  part  of  the  ridge.  This 
proved  a  very  tough  piece  of  work.  We  then  unloaded 
the  sledge  and  passed  each  one  of  our  packages  over  by 
hand.  Finally  we  dragged  the  sledge  up  and  hoisted 
it  over  and  lowered  it  down  safely  on  the  other  side. 
After  this  we  reloaded  the  sledge  and  dragged  it  for 
some  considerable  distance  over  more  of  the  leafy  ice- 
surface  alternating  with  flattish  depressions  of  rotten  ice 
and  snow,  with  water  just  beneath.  We  were  now 
troubled,  not  only  by  the  tile-ice  surface,  but  also  by 
small  channels  with  steep  banks,  apparently  eroded 
by  glacial  streams  which  had  been  flowing  as  the  result 
of  tlie  thaw  while  we  were  on  the  Magnetic  Pole  plateau. 
We  were  also  worried  from  time  to  time  as  to  how  to 
get  over  the  vast  number  of  intersecting  crevasses  wliich 
lay  in  our  path. 

Little  by  little  the  surface  improved  as  we  sledged 
towards  our  depot.  The  platy  structure  on  the  ice 
became  less  and  less  pronounced,  giving  place  to  a 
surface  hke  that  of  innumerable  frozen  wavelets  with 
sharp  crests.  By  lunch-time  we  arrived  at  a  grand  old 
glacial  moraine.  Amongst  its  boulders  was  a  hand- 
some coarsely  crystalline  red  granite  of  which  Mackay 
secured  a  good  specimen.  Numbers  of  boulders  pro- 
jected a  few  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  ice,  but  most 
of  them  were  wholly  encased  in  ice.  After  lunch,  the 
sledging  surface,  though  still  hea\y,  owng  to  the  newly 
fallen  snow,  improved  a  little,  but  we  soon  found  our 

108 


ICE  DONGAS 

progress  barred  by  what  may  be  termed  an  ice  donga, 
apparently  an  old  channel  formed  by  a  river  of  thaw 
water.  We  encountered  three  such  dongas  that  afternoon. 
They  were  from  a  few  feet  up  to  fifty  or  a  hundred 
feet  or  more  in  width,  and  from  ten  to  twenty  feet  deep, 
and  bounded  by  precipitous  or  overhanging  sides. 

After  a  considerable  amount  of  reconnoitring  by 
Mackay  and  Mawson,  and  often  making  considerable 
detours  with  our  sledge,  we  managed  to  cross  them. 
Our  difficulties  were  increased  by  the  innumerable 
crevasses  and  steep  ice  ridges.  Some  of  these  crevasses 
were  open,  while  others  were  roofed  over  with  tough 
snow.  We  fell  into  these  crevasses  from  time  to  time, 
and  on  one  occasion,  INIackay  and  I  fell  into  the  same 
crevasse  simultaneously,  he  up  to  his  shoulders  and  I 
up  to  my  waist.  Fortunately  we  were  able,  by  tlirowing 
out  our  arms,  to  prevent  ourselves  from  falling  right 
through  the  snow  hd.  While  we  were  sledging  on 
through  the  night  amongst  tliis  network  of  crevasses, 
the  skj^  became  hea^^ly  overcast,  and  it  commenced  to 
snow.  At  last  we  succeeded  in  getting  within  less  than 
a  mile  of  the  moraine  containing  the  boulders  of  re- 
markable sphene-diorite,  specimens  of  which  we  had 
collected  at  that  spot  on  our  outward  journey.  Here 
we  camped  and  turned  into  our  sleeping-bag  at  7  a.m. 
on  February  1. 

It  continued  sno^ving  heavily  during  the  day,  the  fall 
being  about  six  inches  in  depth.  The  snow  on  the  side 
of  the  tent  facing  the  sun  thawed  rapidly,  and  the  thaw 
water  dripped  through  and  formed  pools  on  top  of 
our  sleeping-bag.  ISIawson's  sprained  leg  pained  him 
a  great  deal.  We  estimated  that  we.  were  now  only 
about  sixteen  miles,  as  tlie  skua  flies,  from  our  depot  on 
the  Drj'galski  Glacier,  but  as  we  had  only  two  days' 
food   left,    it   became   imperative   to    push    on    mthout 

199 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

delay.  We  started  sledging  in  the  thick  drivhig  snow  on 
the  evening  of  February  1.  The  surface  was  covered 
with  a  layer  of  soft  snow,  nine  inches  in  thickness,  but 
in  the  drifts  it  was,  of  course,  deeper.  The  work  of 
sledging  under  these  circumstances  was  excessively 
laborious  and  exhausting,  and  besides  it  was  impossible 
to  keep  our  proper  course  while  the  blizzard  lasted. 
Acoordingly,  Ave  camped  at  8  p.m.,  and  after  our  evening 
meal  we  rolled  into  our  sleeping-bag  and  slid  into  the 
dreamless  sleep  that  comes  to  the  w^orn  and  weary 
wanderer. 

At  8  A.M.  on  February  2  we  were  rejoiced  to  find  the 
sun  shining  in  a  clear  sky.  We  intended  making  a 
desperate  attempt  this  day  to  reach  our  depot,  as  we 
knew  that  the  Nimrod  would  be  due — perhaps  overdue 
— by  the  night.  We  saw  as  we  looked  back  that  our 
track  of  yesterday  was  about  as  straight  as  a  corkscrew. 
Once  more  we  pulled  out  over  the  soft  snow,  and 
although  refreshed  somewhat  by  our  good  sleep  we 
found  the  work  extremely  trying  and  toilsome.  We 
crossed  an  ice  donga,  and  about  four  miles  out 
reached  the  edge  of  a  second  donga.  Here  we  decided 
to  leave  everything  but  our  sledge,  tent,  sleeping-bag, 
cooking-apparatus,  oil  and  food,  and  make  a  forced 
march  right  on  to  the  Drygalski  Depot.  Accordingly 
we  camped,  had  tea  and  two  biscuits  each,  and  fixed 
up  our  depot,  including  the  Lloyd-Creak  dip  circle, 
theodolite  and  legs,  geological  collections,  &c.,  and 
marked  the  spot  with  a  little  blue  flag  tied  on  to  an 
ice-axe. 

We  now  found  the  sledge,  thus  lightened,  distinctly 
easier  to  pull,  and  after  making  a  slight  detour,  crossed 
the  donga  by  a  snow  bridge.  Soon  we  reached  another 
donga,  and  successfully  crossed  it.  At  three  and  a  half 
miles    further    at    8    p.m.    we    camped    again  and  had 

200 


NEARING  THE  COAST 

a  little  cheese  and  biscuit.  After  tliis  short  halt 
we  pulled  on  again,  steering  north-8°-east  magnetic. 
JMawson  occasionally  swept  the  horizon  with  our  ex- 
cellent field-glasses  in  hopes  of  sighting  our  depot. 
Suddenly  he  exclaimed  that  he  saw  the  depot  Hag 
distinctly  on  its  ice  mound,  apparently  about  seven 
miles  distant,  but  it  was  well  round  on  the  starboard 
bow  of  our  sledge  on  a  bearing  of  south-SS^-west  mag- 
netic. JNIackay  and  I  were  much  excited  at  JNIawson's 
discovery.  INIackay  seized  the  field-glasses  as  soon  as 
IMawson  put  them  down  and  directed  them  to  the  spot 
indicated,  but  could  see  no  trace  of  the  flag;  then  I 
looked  through  the  glasses  with  equally  negative  results. 
IMawson  opined  that  we  must  both  be  snow-blind. 
Then  he  looked  through  them  again,  and  at  once  ex- 
claimed that  he  could  see  no  trace  of  the  flag  now. 
The  horizon  seemed  to  be  walloping  up  and  down,  just 
as  though  it  was  boiling,  evidently  the  result  of  a  mirage. 
JVIawson,  however,  was  so  confident  that  he  had  seen 
the  flag  when  he  first  looked,  that  we  altered  course  to 
south-38°-west  magnetic,  and  after  we  had  gone  a 
httle  over  a  mile,  and  reached  the  top  of  a  slight  emi- 
nence in  the  ice-surface,  we  were  rejoiced  to  liear  the 
announcement  that  he  could  now  see  the  depot  flag 
distincth'.  We  kept  on  sledging  for  several  miles  further. 
At  midnight,  when  the  temperature  had  fallen  to  zero, 
I  felt  that  the  big  toe  of  my  right  foot  was  getting  frost- 
bitten, ^ly  ski-boots  had  all  day  been  filled  with  the 
soft  snow  and  the  warmth  of  my  foot  had  thawed  the 
snow,  so  that  my  socks  were  wet  through;  and  now, 
since  the  springing  up  of  the  wind  and  the  sudden  fall  in 
temperature,  the  water  in  the  socks  had  turned  to  ice. 
So  we  halted,  got  up  the  tent,  started  the  Primus  and 
prepared  for  a  midnight  meal,  while,  with  ]\Iawson's 
assistance,  I  got  off  my  frozen  ski-boots  and  socks  and 

201 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

restored  the  circulation  in  my  toe,  and  put  on  some  socks 
less  icy  than  those  1  had  just  taken  off. 

We  were  much  refreshed  by  our  supper,  and  then 
started  off  again,  thinking  that  at  last  we  should  reach 
our  depot,  or  at  all  events,  the  small  inlet  a  little  over 
a  mile  distant  from  it,  but  "  the  best  laid  schemes  of 
mice  and  men  gang  aft  agley."  There  was  an  ominous 
white  streak  ahead  of  us  with  a  dark  streak  just  behind 
it,  and  we  soon  saw  that  this  was  due  to  a  ravine  or 
barranca  in  the  snow-  and  ice-surface  interposing  itself 
between  ourselves  and  our  depot.  We  soon  reached  the 
near  cliff  of  the  barranca. 

The  barranca  was  about  two  hundred  yards  in 
width,  and  from  thirty  to  forty  feet  deep.  It  w-as 
bounded  by  a  vertical  cliff  or  verj'  steeply  inclined  slope 
on  the  near  side,  the  north-west  side,  and  by  an  over- 
hanging cliff  festooned  with  stalactites  on  the  south- 
east side.  To  the  north-east  a  strip  of  dark  sea-water 
■was  visible  between  the  walls  of  the  barranca,  which 
evidently  communicated  by  a  long  narrow  channel  with 
the  ocean  outside,  some  three  miles  distant.  Inland, 
the  barranca  extended  for  many  miles  as  far  as  the 
eye  could  reach.  The  bottom  of  the  barranca  imme- 
diately beneath  us  was  floored  with  sea  ice  covered 
with  a  few  inches  of  snow.  This  ice  was  traversed 
by  large  tide-cracks,  and  we  were  much  excited  to  see 
that  there  were  a  number  of  seals  and  Emperor 
penguins  dotted  over  the  ice  floor.  We  determined 
to  try  and  cross  the  barranca.  We  looked  up  and 
down  the  near  cliff  for  a  practicable  spot  where  we 
could  let  down  our  sledge,  and  soon  found  a  suitable 
slope,  a  little  to  the  north-east  of  us,  formed  by  a  steep 
snow  drift.  We  sledged  on  to  this  spot,  and  making 
fast  the  Alpine  rojjc  to  the  bow  of  the  sledge,  lowered 
it  cautiously,   stern   first,   to  the   bottom.     The   oil-cans 

202 


FRESH  FOOD 

in  the  rear  of  the  sledge  were  rattled  up  somewhat 
when  it  struck  bottom,  but  no  harm  was  done.  At 
the  bottom  we  had  some  trouble  in  getting  the  sledge 
over  the  gaping  tide-cracks,  some  ten  to  fifteen  feet  deep 
and  three  to  five  feet  wide. 

Arrived  at  the  middle  of  the  floor  of  the  barranca, 
jNIackay  killed  two  Emj^eror  penguins,  and  took  their 
breasts  and  livers  to  replenish  our  exhausted  larder. 
JMeanwhile,  Mawson  crossed  to  the  far  side  of  the  floor 
of  the  barranca  on  the  look-out  for  a  possible  spot 
where  we  might  swarm  up.  I  joined  him  a  few  minutes 
later,  and  as  I  was  feeling  much  exhausted  after  the 
continuous  forced  marches  back  from  the  IMagnetic 
Pole,  asked  him  to  take  over  the  leadership  of  the  ex- 
pedition. I  considered  that  under  the  circumstances 
I  was  justified  in  taking  this  step.  We  had  accom- 
plished the  work  assigned  to  us  by  our  leader,  having 
reached  the  jMagnetic  Pole.  We  were  within  two  or 
tlxree  miles  of  our  Drygalski  Depot,  and  although  the 
only  food  left  there  was  two  days'  supply  of  broken 
biscuits  with  a  little  cheese,  we  had  a  good  prospect  of 
meat-supply,  as  the  barranca  abounded  in  seals  and 
penguins,  so  that  for  the  present  we  had  no  reason  to 
apprehend  the  danger  of  starvation.  On  the  other 
hand,  as  regards  our  ultimate  personal  safety,  our 
position  was  somewhat  critical.  We  were  not  even 
certain  that  the  Nimrod  had  arrived  at  all  in  Ross  Sea 
that  season,  though  we  thought  it,  of  course,  very 
probable  that  she  had.  In  the  next  case,  on  the  as- 
sumption that  she  had  arrived,  it  was  ver^^  possible  that 
in  view  of  the  great  difficulties  of  making  a  thorough 
search  along  the  two  hundred  miles  of  coast,  at  any  part 
of  which  we  might  have  been  camped — difficulties 
arising  from  heavy  belts  of  pack-ice  and  icebergs,  as 
weU  as  from  the  deeply  indented  character  of  that  bold 

30S 


THE  HEART  OF    THE  ANTARCTIC 

and  rugged  coast — it  was  quite  possible  that  the  Nimrod 
would  miss  sighting  our  depot  flags  altogether.  In 
the  event  of  the  Nimrod  not  appearing  within  a  few 
days,  it  would  be  necessary  to  take  immediate  and 
strenuous  action  with  a  view  either  to  wintering  at  the 
spot,  or  with  a  view  to  an  attempt  to  sledge  back 
around  the  great  mountain  massifs  and  over  the  many 
steeply  crevassed  glaciers  for  over  two  hundred  miles  to 
our  winter  quarters  at  Cape  Royds.  Even  now,  in 
the  event  of  some  immediate  strenuous  action  being 
necessary,  if  the  Nimrod  were  to  suddenly  appear  at  some 
point  along  the  coast,  I  thought  it  would  be  best  for 
JMawson,  who  was  less  physically  exhausted  than 
myself,  to  be  in  charge.  He  had,  throughout  the  whole 
journey,  shown  excellent  ca])acity  for  leadership,  fully 
justifying  the  opinion  held  of  him  by  Lieutenant  Shackle- 
ton  when  providing  in  my  insti'uctions  that  in  the 
event  of  anything  happening  to  myself  Mawson  was  to 
assume  the  leadership.  AVhen  I  spoke  to  him  on  the 
subject,  he  at  first  demurred,  but  finally  said  that  he 
would  act  for  a  time,  and  would  think  the  matter  over 
at  his  leisure  before  definitely  deciding  to  become  per- 
manently the  leader.  I  ofi'ered  to  give  him  authority 
in  writing  as  leader,  but  this  he  declined  to  receive. 

IMeanwhile,  the  examination  of  the  cliff  face  on  the 
south-east  side  of  the  liarranca  showed  that  there  was  one 
very  difficult  but  apparently  possible  means  of  ascent. 
We  returned  to  where  we  had  left  IMackay,  and  then  we 
three  dragged  the  sledge  around  to  the  edge  of  a  rather 
formidable  tide-crack,  behind  Avhich  lay  the  mound  of 
snow  up  which  we  hoped  to  climb;  our  idea  being  to 
unpack  our  sledge,  drag  it  to  the  top  of  this  steep 
mound,  and  rearing  it  on  end  at  the  top  of  the  mound, 
use  it  as  a  ladder  for  scaling  the  overhanging  cliff"  above. 
Mackay    managed    to    cross    the    tide-crack,    using    the 

204 


SEVERE   CLIMBING 

bamboo  poles  of  our  tent  as  a  bridge,  and  after  some 
difficulty,  reached  the  top  of  the  snow  mound  under 
the  overhanging  cliff.  Much  to  our  disappointment, 
however,  he  discovered  that  the  momid  was  formed  of 
very  soft  snow,  his  ice-axe  sinking  in  to  the  whole  depth 
of  the  handle  directly  he  placed  it  on  top  of  the  mound. 
It  was  obvious  that  as  our  sledge  would  sink  in  to  at 
least  an  equal  depth,  the  tojj  of  it  would  then  be  too 
short  to  enable  any  of  us  to  scale  the  overhanging  cliff 
by  its  means.  We  were,  therefore,  reluctantly  com- 
pelled to  drag  our  sledge  back  again  over  the  tide-cracks 
to  the  north-west  side  of  the  barranca  down  which  we 
had  previously  lowered  our  sledge.  We  then  discovered 
that,  as  in  classical  times,  wliile  the  descent  to  Avernus 
was  easy,  it  was  difficult  and  toilsome  to  retrace  one's 
steps.  With  JNIawson  ahead  with  the  ice-axe  and  towing 
rope,  and  Mackay  and  I  on  either  side  of  the  seldge  in 
the  rear,  we  managed  by  puffing  and  pusliing  together 
to  force  the  sledge  up  a  few  inches  at  a  time.  At  each 
short  halt,  JNIawson  would  stick  in  the  ice-axe,  take  a 
turn  of  the  leading  rojDc  around  it,  and  support  the  sledge 
in  this  way  for  a  brief  interval  while  we  all  got  our 
breath.  At  last  the  forty  feet  of  steep  slope  was  suc- 
cessfully negotiated,  and  we  found  ourselves  once  more 
on  the  level  plain  at  the  top  of  the  barranca,  but  of 
course,  on  the  wrong  side  in  reference  to  our  depot. 
As  we  were  within  three  miles  of  the  open  sea  we  thought 
it  would  be  safe  to  camp  here,  as  had  the  Nhnrod 
sighted  our  depot  flag  and  stood  in  to  the  coast,  we  could 
easily  have  hurried  down  to  the  entrance  of  the  inlet 
and  made  signals  to  her. 

We  had  now  been  up  since  8  a.m.  on  the  previous 
day,  and  were  very  thankful  to  be  able  to  enter  our 
tent,  and  have  a  meal  off  a  stew  of  minced  penguin 
liver.     We  then  turned  into  the  sleeping-bag  at  about 

205 


THE   HEART  OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

7  A.M.  Just  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  after  we  had 
turned  in,  as  we  learnt  later,  the  Nhnrod  must  have 
passed,  bound  north  towards  ^Mount  ]\Ielbourne,  within 
three  miles  of  the  ice  cUfF  on  which  our  tent  was  now 
situated.  0\\ing,  however,  to  a  light  wind  with  snow 
drift  she  was  unable  to  sight  either  our  depot  flag  or 
tent. 


Ci^aptcr  €l)irtcen 

PROFESSOR  DAVID'S  NARRATIVE  (Cmduded) 

I7EBRUARY  3.— After  sleeping  in  the  bag  from  7 
•■■  A.M.  until  11  A.M.  we  got  up  and  had  breakfast, 
packed  our  sledge,  and  started  along  the  north  bank  of 
the  snow  canon.  The  snow  and  ice  at  the  bottom  were 
dotted  with  basking  seals  and  moulting  Emperor  pen- 
guins. Fully  a  hundred  seals  could  be  counted  in  places 
in  a  distance  of  as  many  yards  along  the  caiion.  At 
about  one  mile  from  the  camp  we  reached  a  small  branch 
caiion,  which  we  had  to  head  oflf  by  turning  to  our 
right.  We  now  proceeded  about  one  and  a  half 
miles  further  along  the  edge  of  the  main  canon,  and  in 
ooir  then  tired  and  weak  state  were  much  dispirited  to 
find  that  it  still  trended  inland  for  a  considerable  dis- 
tance. We  now  halted  by  the  sledge  while  Mackay 
went  ahead  to  try  and  find  a  crossing,  and  presently 
Mawson  and  I  were  rejoiced  to  hear  him  shout  that 
he  had  discovered  a  snow  bridge  across  the  caiion. 
Presently  he  rejoined  us,  and  together  we  pulled  the 
sledge  to  the  head  of  the  snow  bridge.  It  was  a 
romantic  spot.  A  large  slice  of  the  snow  or  neve  cliff 
had  fallen  obliquely  across  the  caiion,  and  its  surface 
had  then  been  raised  and  partially  levelled  up  wth  soft 
drift  snow.  There  was  a  crevasse  at  both  the  near 
and  far  ends  of  the  bridge,  and  the  middle  was  sunk 
a  good  deal  below  the  abutments.  Stepping  over  the 
crevasse  at  the  near  end  we  launched  the  sledge  with  a 
run  down  to  the  centre  of  the  bridge,  then  struggled 
up  the  steep  slope  facing  us,  Mackay  steadying  the  sledge 

207 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

from  falling  off  the  narrow  causeway,  while  we  all  thi-ee 
pulled  for  all  we  were  worth.  In  another  minute  or  two 
we  were  safely  across  with  our  sledge,  thankful  that  we 
had  now  surmounted  the  last  obstacle  that  intervened 
between  us  and  our  depot. 

While  heading  for  the  depot  we  sighted  an  Emperor 
penguin  close  to  our  track.  Mackay  quickly  slew  him, 
and  took  his  flesh  and  liver  for  our  cooldng-pot.  Two 
miles  further  on  we  camped.  Mawson  minced  the 
Emperor's  flesh  and  liver,  and  after  adding  a  little 
snow,  I  boiled  it  over  our  Primus  so  as  to  make  one  and 
a  half  pots  of  soupy  mincemeat  for  each  of  us.  This  was 
the  most  satisfying  meal  we  had  had  for  manj''  a  long 
day.  After  lunch  we  sledged  on  for  over  one  and  a  half 
miles  further  towards  the  depot,  and  at  about  10.30  p.m. 
reached  an  ice  mound  on  the  south  side  of  the  inlet 
in  which  the  snow  canon  terminated  seawards.  This 
camping  spot  was  a  little  over  a  mile  distant  from  our 
dejjot.  We  were  now  all  thoroughly  exhausted  and 
decided  to  camp.  The  spot  we  had  selected  seemed 
specially  suitable,  as  from  the  adjacent  ice  mound  we 
could  get  a  good  view  of  the  ocean  beyond  the  Drj'- 
galski  Barrier.  While  jMawson  and  I  got  up  the  tent, 
Mackay  went  to  kill  a  seal  at  the  shore  of  the  inlet. 
He  soon  returned  with  plenty  of  seal  meat  and  liver. 
He  said  that  he  had  found  two  young  seals,  and  had 
killed  one  of  them;  that  they  had  both  behaved  in  a 
most  unusual  manner,  scuttling  away  quickly  and 
actively  at  his  approach,  instead  of  waiting  without 
moving,  as  did  most  of  the  Weddell  seals  of  wliich  we 
had  liitherto  had  experience.  We  discovered  later 
that  these  two  seals  belonged  to  the  comparatively 
rare  variety  kno\ATi  as  Ross  seal.  After  a  delicious 
meal  of  seal  blubber,  blood  and  oil,  with  fried  meat  and 
liver,  cooked  by  Mawson,  IMawson  and  I  turned  into 

208 


/ 


WAITINGFOR  THE  SHIP 

the  sleeping-bag,  leaving  JVIackay  to  take  the  first 
of  our  four  hour  watches  on  the  look-out  for  the  Nimrod. 
During  his  watch  he  walked  uj)  to  our  depot  and  dug 
out  our  biscuit  tin,  wliich  had  served  us  as  a  blubber 
lamp  and  cooker,  together  with  the  cut-down  paraffin 
tin  wliich  we  had  used  as  a  frying-pan.  Both  these  he 
carried  down  to  our  tent.  There  he  ht  the  blubber 
lamp  just  outside  the  tent  and  cooked  some  penguin 
meat,  regalmg  himself  at  intervals  during  his  four 
hour's  watch  with  dainty  morsels  from  the  savoury 
dish.  When  he  called  me  up  at  4  a.m.  I  found  that 
he  had  thoughtfully  put  into  the  frying-pan  a  junk  of 
Emperor's  breast,  weigliing  about  two  pounds,  for  me 
to  toy  with  during  my  watch.  A  cliilly  wind  was 
blowing  off  the  plateau,  and  I  was  truly  thankful  for 
an  occasional  nibble  at  the  hot  penguin  meat.  After 
cooking  some  more  penguin  meat  I  called  up  JNIawson 
soon  after  8  a.m.  on  February  4,  and  immediately 
afterwards  turned  into  the  bag,  and  at  once  dropped 
off  sound  asleep. 

JNlawson  did  not  call  Mackay  and  myself  until  after 
2  P.M.  We  at  once  rolled  up  the  sleeping-bag,  and 
Mawson  cooked  a  generous  meal  of  seal  and  penguin 
meat  and  blubber,  while  ISIackay  made  a  tloin  soupy 
broth  on  the  Primus.  JNIeanwhile,  I  went  on  to  the 
ice  mound  with  the  field-glasses,  but  could  see  nothing 
in  the  way  of  a  ship  to  seaward  and  returned  to  the 
tent.  We  all  thoroughly  enjoyed  our  liberal  repast,  and 
particularly  rehshed  the  seal's  blood,  gravy  and  seal  oil. 

After  the  meal  we  discussed  our  future  plans.  We 
decided  that  we  had  better  move  the  tent  that  afternoon 
up  to  our  old  depot,  where  it  would  be  a  conspicuous 
object  from  the  sea,  and  where,  too,  we  could  command 
a  more  extensive  view  of  the  ocean.  We  also  talked 
over  what  we  had  best  do  in  the  event  of  the  Nimrod 

Vol.  II.-14  209 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

not  turning  up,  and  decided  that  we  ought  to  attempt 
to  sledge  overland  to  Hut  I'oint,  keeping  ourselves  alive 
on  the  way,  as  best  we  might,  with  seal  meat.  It  must 
be  admitted  that  the  prospect  of  tackling  two  hundi-ed 
miles  of  coast,  lornied  largely  of  steep  rocky  foreshores, 
alternating  with  heavily  crevassed  glacier  ice,  was  not 
a  very  bright  one.  We  also  discussed  the  date  at  which 
we  ought  to  start  trekking  southwards.  ^lackay  thought 
we  ought  to  commence  making  our  preparations  at  once, 
and  that  unless  the  Nimrod  arrived  within  a  few  days 
Ave  ought  to  start  down  the  coast  with  our  sledge,  tent, 
sleeping-bag,  cooker  and  seal  meat,  leaving  a  note  at 
the  depot  for  the  Ximrodj  in  case  she  should  arrive  later 
asking  her  to  look  out  for  us  along  the  coast,  and  if  she 
couldn't  sight  us,  to  lay  depots  of  food  and  oil  for  us 
at  certain  specified  spots.  He  considered  that  by  this 
method  we  could  make  sure  of  beginning  the  long 
journey  in  a  sound  state  of  health,  and,  if  fortunate, 
might  reach  Hut  Point  before  the  beginning  of  the 
equinoctial  gales  in  JNlarch.  ISIawson  and  1,  on  the 
other  hand,  thought  that  we  ought  to  wait  on  at  our 
present  camp  until  late  in  February. 

From  Avhatever  point  of  view  we  looked  at  it,  our 
present  lot  was  not  a  happy  one.  The  possibility  of  a 
long  wait  in  the  gloomy  region  of  the  Drygalski  Glacier, 
with  its  frequent  heavy  snows  at  this  season  of  the 
year,  and  leaden  sky  vaulted  over  the  dark  sea,  was 
not  pleasing  to  contemplate.  Still  less  cheerful  was 
the  prospect  of  a  long,  tedious  and  dangerous  sledge 
journey  towards  Hut  Point.  Even  the  diet  of  seal  and 
penguin,  just  for  the  moment  so  nice,  largely  because 
novel,  would  soon  savour  of  ton  jours  perdrix. 

Dispirited  by  forebodings  of  much  toil  and  trouble, 
we  were  just  preparing  to  set  our  weary  liml)s  in  motion 
to  pack  up  our  belongings  for  the  short  trek  up  to  the 

210 


THE   NIMROD   ARRIVES 

depot,  when  Bang!  went  sometliing,  seemingly  close 
to  the  door  of  our  tent;  the  sound  thrilled  us;  in  another 
instant  the  air  reverberated  with  a  big  boom!  much 
louder  than  the  fii'st  sound.  JMawson  gave  tongue 
iirst,  roaring  out,  "A  gmi  from  the  ship!"  and  dived 
for  the  tent  door.  As  the  latter  was  narrow  and  funnel- 
shaped  there  was  for  the  moment  some  congestion  of 
traffic.  I  dashed  my  head  forwards  to  where  I  saw  a 
small  opening,  only  in  time  to  receive  a  few  kicks  from 
the  departing  JMawson.  Just  as  I  was  recovering  my 
equilibrium,  Mackay  made  a  wdd  charge,  rode  me 
down  and  trampled  over  my  prostrate  body.  When 
at  length  I  struggled  to  my  feet,  JMawson  had  got  a  lead 
of  a  hundred  yards,  and  JMackay  of  about  fifty.  "  Bring 
something  to  wave,"  shouted  JMawson,  and  I  rushed 
back  to  the  tent  and  seized  JMackay's  riick-sack.  As  I 
ran  forward  tliis  time,  what  a  sight  met  my  gaze.  There 
was  the  dear  old  Nimrod,  not  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away, 
steaming  straight  towards  us  up  the  inlet,  her  bows  just 
rounding  the  entrance.  At  the  sight  of  the  three  of  us 
running  frantically  to  meet  the  ship,  hearty  ringing 
cheers  burst  forth  from  all  on  boafd.  How  those 
cheers  stirred  every  fibre  of  one's  being!  It  would  be 
hard,  indeed,  for  any  one,  not  situated  as  we  had  been, 
to  realise  the  sudden  revulsion  of  our  feelings.  In  a 
moment,  as  dramatic  as  it  was  heavenly,  we  seemed  to 
have  passed  from  death  into  life.  JMy  first  feelings 
were  of  intense  relief  and  joy;  then  of  fervent  gratitude 
to  the  kind  Providence  which  had  so  mercifully  led  our 
friends  to  our  deliverance. 

A  sudden  shout  from  JMackay  called  me  back  to 
earth,  "  JMawson's  fallen  into  a  deep  crevasse.  Look 
out,  it's  just  in  front  of  you! "  I  then  saw  that  JMackay 
was  kneeling  on  the  snow  near  the  edge  of  a  small 
oblong  sapphire-blue  hole  in  the  neve.     "  Are  you  all 

211 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

right,  Mawson?"  he  sang  out,  and  from  the  depth, 
eanie  up  the  welcome  word,  "  Yes."  Mackay  then  told 
me  that  JNlawson  was  about  twenty  feet  down  the 
crevasse.  We  decided  to  tiy  and  pull  him  up  with 
the  sledge  harness,  and  hurried  back  to  the  sledge,  vm- 
toggled  the  harness,  ran  back  with  it  to  the  crevasse, 
and  let  one  end  down  to  ^lawson.  We  found,  however, 
that  our  combined  strength  was  insufficient  to  pull  him 
up,  and  that  there  was  a  risk,  too,  of  the  snow  lid  at 
the  surface  falling  in  on  JNlawson,  if  weight  was  put  upon 
it,  unless  it  was  strengthened  with  some  planking. 
Accordingly,  we  gave  up  the  attempt  to  haul  JNlawson 
up,  and  while  I  remained  at  the  crevasse  holding  one 
end  of  the  sledge  harness  JNIackay  hurried  off  for  help  to 
the  Nimrod,  which  was  now  berthing  alongside  of  the 
south  wall  of  the  inlet,  about  two  hundred  yards  distant. 
!Mackay  shouted  to  those  on  board,  "  ^lawson  has  fallen 
down  a  crevasse,  and  we  got  to  the  JNIagnetic  Pole." 
The  accident  had  taken  place  so  suddenly  that  those  on 
board  had  not  realised  in  the  least  what  had  happened. 
A  clear,  fii'm,  cheery  voice,  that  was  strange  to  me,  was 
now  heard  issuing  prompt  orders  for  a  rescue  party. 
Almost  in  less  time  than  it  takes  to  write  it,  officers  and 
sailors  were  swarming  over  the  bows  of  the  Nimrod, 
and  dropi)ing  on  to  the  ice  barrier  beneath.  I  called 
do\™  to  JNlawson  that  helj)  was  at  hand.  He  said  that 
he  w^as  quite  comfortable  at  present;  that  there  was 
sea  water  at  the  bottom  of  the  crevasse,  but  that  he  had 
been  able  to  sustain  liimself  a  couple  of  feet  above  it 
on  the  small  ledge  that  had  arrested  his  fall,  INIean- 
while,  the  rescue  party,  headed  by  the  first  officer  of 
the  Ximrodj  J.  K.  Davis,  had  arrived  on  the  scene. 
The  crevasse  Avas  bridged  with  a  suitable  piece  of  sawn 
timber,  and  Davis,  with  that  spirit  of  thorouglmess 
wliich  characterises  all  his  work,  promptly  had  himself 

212 


GLAD  MOMENTS 

lowered  do^vTi  the  crevasse.  On  reaching  the  bottom  he 
transferred  the  rope  by  wliich  he  had  been  lowered  to 
JNIawson,  and  with  a  long  pull  and  a  strong  pull  and  a  pull 
altogether,  the  company  of  the  Niuirod  soon  had  ]\lawson 
safe  on  top,  none  the  worse  for  the  accident  with  the 
exception  that  his  back  was  shghtly  biiiised.  As  soon 
as  the  rope  was  cast  free  from  INIawson,  it  was  let  down 
again  for  Davis,  and  presently  he,  too,  was  safely  on 
top. 

And  now  we  had  a  moment  of  leisure  to  see  who 
constituted  the  rescue  party.  There  were  the  dear  old 
faces  so  well  known  on  our  voyage  together  the  pre\'ious 
year,  and  interspersed  \\ith  them  were  a  few  new 
faces.  Here  were  our  old  comrades  Arm}i:age  and 
Brocklehurst,  Dr.  JNIichell,  Harbord  (the  officer  who — 
as  we  learned  later — had  sighted  our  depot  flag),  our 
good  stewards  Ansell  and  Ellis,  the  genial  boatswain 
Cheetham,  Paton,  and  a  number  of  others.  What  a 
joyous  grasping  of  hands  and  hearty  all-round  welcoming 
followed.  Foremost  among  them  all  to  welcome  us 
was  Captain  Evans,  who  had  commanded  the  s.s. 
Koonya,  which  towed  the  Nimrod  from  L}i:telton  to 
beyond  the  Antarctic  Circle,  and  it  goes  without  sapng 
that  the  fact  that  the  Nimrod  was  now  in  command  of 
a  master  of  such  experience,  so  well  and  favourably 
kno^\'n  in  the  shipping  world  of  New  Zealand  and 
Austraha,  gave  us  the  greatest  satisfaction.  He  hastened 
to  assure  me  of  the  safety  and  good  health  of  my  wife 
and  family.  While  willing  hands  packed  up  our  sledge, 
tent  and  other  belongings,  Captain  Evans  walked  with 
us  to  the  rope  ladder  hanging  over  the  bows  of  the 
Nimrod. 

Quickly  as  all  this  had  taken  place,  ]\Iackay  had 
already  found  time  to  secure  a  pipe  and  some  tobacco 
from  one  of  our  crew,  and  was  now  puffing  away  to  his 

213 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

heart's  content.  We  were  soon  all  on  the  deck  of  the 
Nimrud  once  more,  and  were  immediately  stood  up  in 
a  row  to  be  photographed.  As  soon  as  the  cameras 
had  worked  their  wicked  will  upon  us,  for  we  were  a 
sorrj'  sight,  our  friends  hurried  us  off  for  afternoon 
tea.  After  our  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  days  of 
hard  toil  over  the  sea  ice  of  the  coast  and  the  great 
snow  desert  of  the  liinterland,  the  little  sliip  seemed 
to  us  as  luxurious  as  an  ocean  hner.  To  find  oneself 
seated  once  more  in  a  comfortable  chair,  and  to  be  served 
with  new-made  bread,  fresh  butter,  cake  and  tea,  was 
Elysium. 

We  heard  of  the  narrow  escape  of  Army tage,  Priestley 
and  Brocklehurst,  when  they  were  being  carried  out 
to  sea,  with  only  two  days'  provisions,  on  a  small 
ice-floe  surrounded  by  Killer  whales;  and  how,  just 
after  the  momentary  grounding  of  the  floe,  they  Avere 
all  just  able  to  leap  ashore  at  a  spot  where  they 
were  picked  up  later  by  the  Nimrod.  We  also  heard 
of  the  extraordinary  adventures  and  escapes  of  Mac- 
kintosh and  McGillan  in  their  forced  march  overland, 
without  tent  or  sleeping-bag,  from  Mount  Bird  to  Cape 
Royds;  of  the  departure  of  the  supporting-party  to 
meet  the  Southern  Party;  and,  in  short,  of  all  the 
doings  at  Cape  Royds  and  on  the  Nimrod  since  we  had 
last  heard  any  news.  Pleasantly  the  buzz  of  our  friends' 
voices  blended  itself  with  the  gentle  fizzing  of  steam  from 
the  Nimrod's  boiler,  and  surely  since  the  days  of  Jolin 
Gilpin  "  were  never  folk  so  glad  "  as  were  we  three. 

Here  it  may  not  perhaps  be  out  of  place  to  quote 
from  Captain  Evans'  private  log  in  reference  to  the 
relief  of  our  Northern  Party  by  the  Nimrod.  After 
hearing  from  the  Western  Party  under  Armitage  that 
we  were  long  overdue  at  Butter  Point,  and  after  con- 
sulting with   ]\Iurray   at    Cape   Royds,   he   decided   to 

214 


The  "Nimrod"  Htxu  dp  in  the  Ice 


Captain   l'.\  ws    \m>    jhi    "Nimh 


I  !<     \     liLIZZAUU 


The  Deck  of  tiif.  "Nimboo"  aftf.r  a  Blizzard 


THE  SHIP'S  WORK 

commence  to  search  for  us,  as  suggested  in  Lieutenant 
Shackleton's  instructions  on  February  1.  He  left 
accordingly  at  that  date,  and  after  looking  for  us  in 
vain  at  the  Butter  Point  depot,  and  at  Granite  Harbour 
he  sailed  northwards  for  the  Diygalski  Ice  Barrier 
Tongue,  and  when  about  three  miles  oiF  our  depot 
island  had  sighted  our  httle  flag  and  cairn,  but  was  not 
certain  that  it  was  a  depot.  Nearer  approach  was  pre- 
cluded at  the  time  by  the  pack-ice. 

Captain  Evans'  private  log  reads  as  follows : 
''February  3,  1.30  a.m.— Cleared  belt  of  pack- 
proceeded  westward  along  Drygalski  Barrier  edge. 
JNIoderate  to  strong  south-west  wind,  force  four  to  eight 
with  snow  di-ift;  7.30  a.m.  to  9.30  a.m.  off  Barrier. 
(At  tliis  time  the  Nlmrod  must  have  passed  witliin 
about  three  miles  of  the  spot  where  we  were  at  our  last 
camp  before  reacliing  the  inlet,  and  had  it  not  been  for 
a  little  falling  snow  our  flag  and  tent  would  prob- 
ably have  been  sighted  on  this  occasion)  ;  10  a.m.  to 
2.15  P.M.:  coasted  along  the  beach  at  distances  of 
from  one-fifth  of  a  mile  to  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in 
water  from  ten  to  fifty  fathoms;  1  p.m.  wind  dropped 
to  calm;  2.15  p.m.  bearing  true  north-20°-east,  dis- 
tant twenty-four  miles  ]Mount  ^Melbourne.  Came  to 
top  of  bight  (Gerlache  Inlet)  full  of  pack;  sounded  in 
sixty-four  fathoms;  took  bearings  and  stood  eastward 
to  search  Cape  Washington;  3.30  p.m.  entered  the 
pack-ice. 

]\Iidnight:  rounded  Cape  Washington  at  a  distance  of 
one  and  a  half  cables  in  eleven  to  twenty  fathoms, 
both  sides  of  the  cape  quite  inaccessible — awful-looking 
ice  cliffs  northern  side — crevassed  ice  slopes  south 
side.  Fresh  south-south-west  wind,  force  5-5.  .  .  . 
No  sign  of  party  or  record  anywhere. 

215 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

February  4,  1909,  10  a.m. — Pack-ice  stretching 
east  and  west  to  northward — turned  back  to  try 
coast  agam  to  the  southward.  Fresh  soutlierly  wmd, 
force  6 — clear  and  fine,  barometer  28. 8G,  thermometer 
17°.  .  .  .  Proceeding  again  along  Drygalski  Barrier; 
3  P.M.  sighted  two  flags  on  Barrier  edge  and  a  httle 
back  of  it — small  hilet  developing.  (The  third  officer, 
JMr.  A.  Harbord,  first  sighted  these  flags,  and  came 
to  the  captain  and  said,  '  1  think,  sir,  1  see  a  flag,' 
and  then  Arm}i;age,  bringing  his  powerful  deer-stalking 
telescope  to  bear  on  the  object,  said  to  the  captain, 
'  It's  a  dead  sitter,  sir.'  T.W.E.U.)  3.40  p.m.  arrived 
at  upper  end  of  inlet — picked  up  Professor  David, 
Mawson  and  JNIackay,  just  arrived  back  from  JNIagnetic 
Pole;  5  p.m.  killed  flrst  Ross  seal;  2  p.m.  great 
depression,  4  p.m.  great  elation.  .  .  .  At  3.30  p.m., 
upon  sighting  the  top  of  the  Northern  Party's  tent, 
we  fire  a  distress  double  detonator.  Upon  hearing 
tliis  in  the  tent  we  learn  that  they  all  jumjjcd  up,  and 
upset  each  other,  and  everjiihing,  including  the  tin 
of  seal  blubber  and  blood  which  thej'-  were  drinking, 
and  which  Professor  David  pronounces  good  when  you 
get  used  to  it,  and  rushed  out,  JNIawson  fu'st,  who  almost 
immediately  went  down  a  crevasse,  from  which  jNIr. 
Davis  and  a  party  from  the  ship  soon  pulled  Iiim  up. 
A  great  meeting — a  tremendous  relief." 

After  afternoon  tea  came  the  joy  of  reading  the  home 
letters,  and  finding  that  the  news  was  good.  Later  we 
all  three  had  a  novel  experience,  the  fu-st  real  wash  for 
over  four  months.  After  much  diligent  work  A\ith 
hot  water,  soap  and  towel  some  of  the  outer  casing  of 
dirt  was  removed,  and  bits  of  our  real  selves  began 
to  show  through  the  covering  of  seal  oil  and  soot. 
Dinner  followed  at  6  p.m.  and  it  is  scarcely  necessary 
to  add  that  with  our  raging  appetites,  and  all  the  new 

216 


LUXURY 

types  of  dainty  food  around  us  we  over-ate  ourselves. 
This  did  not  prevent  us  from  partaking  liberally  of 
hot  cocoa  and  gingerbread  biscuits  before  turning 
in  at  10  P.M.  None  but  those  whose  bed  for  montlis 
has  been  on  snow  and  ice  can  reahse  the  luxury  of  a 
real  bunk,  blankets  and  pillow  in  a  snug  little  cabin. 
A  few  minutes'  happy  reverie  preceded  sound  sleep. 
At  last  our  toilsome  march  was  over,  the  work  that 
had  been  given  us  to  do  was  done,  and  done  just  in  the 
nick  of  time;  the  safety  of  those  nearest  and  dearest 
to  us  was  assured,  and  we  could  now  lay  down  our  weary 
limbs  to  rest. 

Under  Providence  one  felt  one  owed  one's  life  to  the 
patient  and  thorough  search,  sound  judgment  and  fine 
seamanship  of  Captain  Evans,  and  the  devotion  to 
duty  of  his  officers  and  crew  and  no  pen  can  describe 
how  that  night  one's  heart  overflowed  ^\-ith  thankful- 
ness for  all  the  blessings  of  that  day.  One's  last  thought 
in  the  twiHght  that  comes  between  wakefulness  and 
sleej)  is  expressed  in  the  words  of  our  favourite  record 
on  the  gramophone,  the  hymn  so  grandly  sung  by 
Evan  Williams: 

"  So  long  Thy  power  hath  blest  me,  sure  it  still  will  lead 


If  one  may  be  permitted  to  take  a  brief  retrospect 
of  our  journey  the  following  considerations  present 
themselves:  The  total  distance  travelled  from  Cape 
Royds  to  the  Magnetic  Pole  and  back  to  our  depot 
on  the  Drygalski  Glacier  was  about  1260  miles.  Of 
this,  740  miles  was  relay  work,  and  we  dragged  a  weight 
of,  at  first,  a  little  over  half  a  ton,  and  finally  some- 
what under  half  a  ton  for  the  whole  of  this  distance. 
For  the  remaining  520  miles  from  the  Drj^galski  Depot 

217 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

to  the  Magnetic  Pole  and  back  we  dragged  a  weight  at 
first,  of  670  lb.,  but  this  finally  became  reduced  to  about 
450  lb.,  owing  to  consumption  of  food  and  oil,  by  the  time 
that  we  returned  to  our  depot. 

We  were  absent  on  our  sledge  journey  for  one 
hundred  and  twenty-two  days,  of  wliich  five  days  were 
spent  in  our  tent  during  heavy  blizzaxds,  and  five  days 
partly  in  experimenting  in  cooking  with  blubber  and 
partly  in  preparing  supplies  of  seal  meat  for  the  journey 
from  the  sea  ice  over  the  high  plateau,  and  tliree  days 
in  addition  were  taken  up  in  reconnoitring,  taking 
magnetic  observations,  &c.  We  therefore  covered  this 
distance  of  1260  miles  in  109  travelling  days,  an  average 
of  about  eleven  and  a  half  miles  a  day. 

We  had  laid  two  depots  before  our  final  start,  but 
as  these  were  distant  only  ten  miles  and  fifteen  miles 
respectively,  from  our  winter  quarters  they  did  not 
materially  help  us.  We  had  no  supporting-pai'ty,  and 
with  the  exception  of  help  from  the  motor-car  in  laying 
out  these  short  depots  we  pulled  the  sledges  for  the 
whole  distance  without  assistance  except,  on  rare 
occasions,  from  the  wind. 

The  travelling  over  the  sea  ice  was  at  first  pretty 
good,  but  from  Cape  Bernacchi  to  the  Nordenskjold 
Ice  Barrier  we  were  much  hampered  by  screwed  pack- 
ice  with  accompanying  high  and  hard  snow  ridges. 
Towards  the  latter  part  of  October  and  during  Novem- 
ber and  part  of  December  the  thawing  surface  of  saline 
snow,  clogging  and  otherwise  impeding  our  runners, 
made  the  work  of  sledging  extremely  laborious.  ]\Iore- 
over,  on  the  sea  ice — especially  towards  the  last  part 
of  our  journey  over  it — we  had  ever  present  the  risk 
of  a  blizzard  breaking  the  ice  up  suddenly  all  around  us, 
and  drifting  us  out  to  sea.    There  can  be  no  doubt, 

218 


REVIEW  OF  THE   JOURNEY 

in  view  of  the  wide  lanes  of  open  water  in  the  sea  ice 
on  the  south  side  of  the  Drygalski  Glacier,  when  we 
reached  it  on  Xovember  30,  that  we  got  to  glades  fir  ma 
only  in  the  nick  of  time. 

Then  there  was  the  formidable  obstacle  of  the 
Drygalski  Glacier,  with  its  wide  and  deep  chasms,  its 
steej}  ridges  and  crevasses,  the  passage  of  this  glacier 
proving  so  difficult  that  although  only  a  little  over 
twenty  miles  in  width  it  took  us  a  fortnight  to  get 
across.  On  the  far  side  of  the  Drygalski  was  the  open 
sea  forcing  us  to  travel  shorewards  over  the  glacier 
surface.  Then  had  come  the  difficult  task  of  pioneering 
a  way  up  to  the  high  plateau — the  attempt  to  force  a 
passage  up  the  Mount  Xansen  Glacier — our  narrow 
escapes  from  having  our  sledge  engulfed  in  crevasses — 
the  heavy  bhzzard  with  deep  new  fallen  snow  and 
then  our  retreat  from  that  region  of  high-pressure  ridges 
and  crevasse  entanglements — our  abandonment  of  the 
proposed  route  up  the  snout  of  the  Bellingshausen 
Glacier,  and  finally  our  successful  ascent  up  the  small 
tributary  glacier,  the  "  backstairs  passage,"  to  the  south 
of  Mount  Larsen. 

On  the  high  plateau  was  the  difficulty  of  respira- 
tion, biting  winds  with  low  temperatures,  difficult 
sledging — sometimes  against  blizzards — over  broad 
undulations  and  high  sastrugi,  the  cracking  of  our  lips, 
fingers  and  feet,  exhaustion  from  insufficient  rations, 
disappointment  at  finding  that  the  ]Magnetic  Pole 
had  sliifted  further  inland  than  the  position  previously 
assigned  to  it.  Then,  after  we  had  just  succeeded  by 
dint  of  great  efforts  in  reaching  the  Pole  of  verticity, 
came  the  necessity  for  forced  marches,  with  our  sledge, 
of  from  sixteen  to  twenty  miles  a  day  in  order  to  reach 
the  coast  with  any  reasonable  prospect  of  our  being 
picked  up  by  the  Nimrod. 

219 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Then  came  our  choice  of  the  difficult  route  down  the 
snout  of  the  BelHngshausen  Glacier,  and  our  conse- 
quent difficulties  in  surmounting  the  ice-pressure  ridges; 
then  the  difficulty  of  sledging  over  the  "  tile-ice  "  sur- 
face, the  opposing  ice  barrancas  formed  by  the  thaw 
water  while  we  were  on  the  high  plateau;  the  final 
heavy  snow  blizzard;  our  loss  of  direction  when  sledg- 
ing in  bad  light  and  falling  snow,  and  finally  our  arrest 
by  the  deep  barranca  of  what  afterwards  was  known  as 
Relief  Inlet. 

But  ours  were  not  the  only,  nor  the  greatest,  diffi- 
culties connected  with  our  journey.  There  were  many 
disappointments,  dangers  and  hardships  for  the  captain, 
officers  and  crew  of  the  Nimrod  in  their  search  for  us 
along  that  two  lunidi'ed  miles  of  desolate  and,  for  a  great 
part,  inaccessible  coast-line.  How  often  black  spots 
ashore,  proving  on  nearer  view  to  be  seals  or  penguins, 
had  been  mistaken  for  depot  flags;  how  often  the  glint 
of  sunlight  off  brightly  reflecting  facets  of  ice  had  been 
thought  to  be  "  helios,"  only  the  disappointed  ones 
can  tell;  how  often,  too,  the  ship  was  all  but  aground, 
at  other  times  all  but  beset  in  the  ice-pack  in  the  efforts 
to  get  a  clearer  view  of  the  shore-line  in  order  to  discover 
our  depot!  This  is  a  tale  that  the  brave  men  who  risked 
their  Hves  to  save  ours  will  scorn  to  tell,  but  is  nevertheless 
true. 

As  the  result  of  our  journey  to  the  INIagnetic  Pole 
and  back,  ]Mawson  was  able  to  join  up  in  his  continuous 
triangulation  survey,  Mount  Erebus  with  IMount  Mel- 
bourne, and  to  show  with  approximate  accuracy  the 
outline  of  the  coast-line,  and  the  position  and  height  of 
several  new  mountains.  He  and  I  obtained  geological 
collections,  sketches  and  notes — especially  on  glacial 
geology — along  the  coast-line,  and  he  also  took  a  series 

220 


Party  setting  out  from  Ship 


iHHHHHSHHp^^^^^^ 

f'^'S"^' 

"i 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^Hi                       M                  B  i 

1  / 

/j-l^i.  iy 

/ 

— — "yviB 

'  r   M  Ir 

"v 

^-^^H 

VfU^'^m^ 

:vWv^ 

\ 

—      :i^^ 

The  Crow's  Nest  of  the  "Nimroh,*'  as  seen  from  the  Deck 


PLANS  FOR  THE  FUTURE 

of  photographs;  while  ]\Iackay  determined  our  altitudes 
on  the  plateau  by  means  of  the  hypsometer.  jNIawson 
also  made  magnetic  determinations,  and  I  was  able  to 
gather  some  meteorological  information.  A  summary 
of  this  work  is  given  in  the  Scientific  Appendix,  and 
details  will  be  supplied  later  in  the  Scientific  Memoirs  of 
the  expedition. 

Unfortunately  the  time  available  during  our  journey 
was  too  short  for  detailed  magnetic,  geological  or  mete- 
orological observations.  Nevertheless,  we  trust  that  the 
information  obtained  has  justified  the  journey.  At  all 
events  we  have  pioneered  a  route  to  the  jNIagnetic  Pole, 
and  we  hope  that  the  path  thus  found  will  prove  of  use 
to  future  observers. 

It  is  easy,  of  course,  to  be  wise  after  the  event,  but 
there  is  no  doubt  that  had  we  known  that  there  was 
going  to  be  an  abundance  of  seals  all  along  the  coast, 
and  had  we  had  an  efficient  team  of  dogs  we  could  have 
accomplished  our  journey  in  probably  half  the  time 
that  it  actually  occupied.  Future  expeditions  to  the 
South  JNIagnetic  Pole  would  probably  do  well  to  land 
a  strong  and  weU-equipped  party,  either  at  Relief  Inlet, 
or  better,  as  near  to  "  Backstairs  Passage  "  as  the  ship 
can  be  taken,  and  as  early  in  December  as  the  state  of 
the  sea  ice  makes  nangation  possible.  A  party  of 
three,  with  a  supporting-party  also  of  three,  with  good 
dog  teams  and  plenty  of  fresh  seal  meat,  could  travel 
together  for  about  seventy  miles  inland;  then  the  sup- 
porting-party might  diverge  and  ascend  INIount  Nansen 
from  its  inland  extremity.  The  other  party,  mean- 
while, might  proceed  to  the  JNIagnetic  Pole  at  not  less 
than  fifteen  miles  a  day.  This  should  admit  of  their 
spending  from  a  week  to  a  fortnight  at  the  Pole,  and 
they  should  then  be  able  to  return  to  the  coast  early  in 

221 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

February.  Meanwhile,  there  would  be  plenty  of  scope 
for  a  third  party  to  explore  the  foot-hills  of  JNIount 
Larsen  and  JNIount  Nansen,  search  and  map  their  won- 
derful moraines,  and  examine  the  deeply  indented  rocky 
coast-line  from  Nansen  to  the  as  yet  untrod  volcano 
Mount  JSIelbourne. 


Ci^apter  fourteen 

ALL  ABOARD:  THE  RETURN  TO  NEW  ZEALAND 

ri^HE  Nimrodj  with  the  members  of  the  Northern 
'■  Party  aboard,  got  back  to  the  winter  quarters 
on  February  11  and  landed  JMawson.  The  hut  party 
at  tliis  period  consisted  of  JNlurray,  Priestley,  Mawson, 
Day  and  Roberts.  Xo  news  had  been  heard  of  the 
Southern  Party,  and  the  Depot  Party,  commanded  by 
Joyce,  was  still  out.  The  ship  lay  under  Glacier  Tongue 
most  of  the  time,  making  occasional  visits  to  Hut  Point 
in  case  some  of  the  men  should  have  returned.  On 
February  20  it  was  found  that  the  Depot  Party  had 
reached  Hut  Point,  and  had  not  seen  the  Southern 
Party.  The  temperature  was  becoming  lower,  and  the 
blizzards  were  more  frequent. 

The  instruction  left  by  me  had  pcovided  that  if 
we  had  not  returned  by  February  25,  a  party  was  to 
be  landed  at  Hut  Point,  with  a  team  of  dogs,  and  on 
March  1  a  search-party  Avas  to  go  south.  On  Febru- 
ary 21  INIurray  and  Captain  Evans  began  to  make  prep- 
arations for  the  landing  of  the  reUef  party.  The  ship 
proceeded  to  Cape  Royds  where  INIawson  was  picked 
up.  In  accordance  with  my  expressed  wish  he  was 
offered  the  command  of  the  relief  party,  and  accepted 
it.  If  it  became  necessary  to  go  south  in  search  of  the 
Southern  Party  the  men  landed  at  Hut  Point  would 
have  to  spend  another  winter  in  the  south,  as  the  ship 
could  not  wait  until  their  return.  It  was  therefore 
a  serious  matter  for  those  who  stayed,  but  there  was 
no  lack  of  volunteers.     These  arrangements  being  com- 

223 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

pleted,  most  of  the  members  of  the  expedition  then  on 
board  went  ashore  at  Cape  Royds  to  get  the  last  of  their 
property  jDacked  ready  for  departure.  The  ship  was  lying 
under  Glacier  Tongue  when  I  arrived  at  Hut  Point  with 
Wild  on  February  28,  and  after  I  had  been  landed  with 
the  relief  party  in  order  to  bring  in  Adams  and  Marshall, 
it  proceeded  to  Cape  Royds  in  order  to  take  on  board  the 
remaining  members  of  the  shore-party  and  some  specimens 
and  stores. 

The  Nimrod  anchored  a  short  distance  from  the 
shore,  and  two  boats  were  launched.  The  only  spot 
convenient  for  embarkation  near  the  sliip's  anchorage 
was  at  a  low  ice  chff  in  Backdoor  Bay.  Everything 
had  to  be  lowered  by  ropes  over  the  cliff  into  the  boats. 
Some  hours  were  spent  in  taking  on  board  the  last 
of  the  collections,  the  private  property,  and  various 
stores. 

A  stiff  breeze  was  blowing,  making  work  with  the 
boats  difficult,  but  by  6  a.m.  on  jNIarch  2  there  remained 
to  be  taken  on  board  only  the  men  and  dogs.  The 
operation  of  lowering  the  dogs  one  by  one  into  the  boats 
was  necessarily  slow,  and  while  it  was  in  progress  the 
wind  freshened  to  blizzard  force,  and  the  sea  began  to 
run  dangerously.  The  waves  had  deeply  undercut 
the  ice-cliff,  leaving  a  projecting  shelf.  One  boat,  in 
charge  of  Davis,  succeeded  in  reaching  the  sliip,  but  a 
second  boat,  commanded  by  Harbord,  was  less  fortu- 
nate. It  was  heavily  loaded  with  twelve  men  and  a 
number  of  dogs,  and  before  it  had  proceeded  many 
yards  from  the  shore  an  oar  broke.  The  Nimrod  was 
forced  to  shp  her  moorings  and  steam  out  of  the  bay, 
as  the  storm  had  become  so  severe  that  she  was  in  danger 
of  dragging  her  anchors  and  going  on  the  rocks.  An 
attempt  to  float  a  buoy  to  the  boat  was  not  successful, 
and  for  some  time  Harbord  and  the  men  with  him  were 

224 


Thk  Ship  off  Pram  Point,  jcst  before  LEAvrxt;  for  the  North 


The  Motoh  Cam  beinu  iaken  aboaud  thk  "Nimhou"  kok  thk  Kkti  kn  Joirnky 


^Jl 


1 


Ready  to  start  Home 


A  DISASTER  AVERTED 

in  danger.  They  could  not  get  out  of  the  bay  owing 
to  the  force  of  tiie  sea,  and  the  projecting  shelf  of  ice 
tlu-eatened  disaster  if  they  approached  the  shore.  The 
flying  spray  had  encased  the  men  in  ice,  and  their  hands 
were  nunab  and  half -frozen.  At  the  end  of  an  hour 
they  managed  to  make  fast  to  a  line  stretched  from 
an  anchor  a  few  yards  from  the  chff',  the  men  who  had 
remained  on  shore  pulling  this  hne  taut.  The  position 
was  still  dangerous,  but  all  the  men  and  dogs  were 
hauled  up  the  slippery  ice-face  into  safety  before  the 
boat  sank.  Hot  drinks  were  soon  ready  in  the  hut, 
and  the  men  dried  their  clothes  as  best  they  could 
before  the  fire.  Nearly  all  the  bedding  had  been  sent 
on  board,  and  the  temperature  was  low,  but  they  were 
thankful  to  have  escaped  with  their  lives. 

The  weather  was  bitter  on  the  following  morning 
(March  3),  and  the  Xijnrod,  which  had  been  sheltering 
under  Glacier  Tongue,  came  back  to  Cape  Royds.  A 
heaAy  sea  was  still  running,  but  a  new  landing-place 
was  selected  in  the  shelter  of  the  cape,  and  all  the  men 
and  dogs  were  got  aboard.  The  ship  went  back  to 
the  Glacier  Tongue  anchorage  to  wait  for  the  relief 
party. 

About  ten  o'clock  that  night  ^Mackintosh  was  walking 
the  deck  engaged  in  conversation  with  some  other 
members  of  the  expedition.  Suddenly  he  became 
excited  and  said,  "  I  feel  that  Shackleton  has  arrived 
at  Hut  Point."  He  was  verj^  anxious  that  the  ship 
should  go  up  to  the  Point,  but  nobody  gave  much 
attention  to  him.  Then  Dunlop  advised  him  to  go 
up  to  the  crow's-nest  if  he  was  sure  about  it,  and  look 
for  a  signal.  Mackintosh  went  aloft,  and  immediately 
saw  our  flare  at  Hut  Point.  The  ship  at  once  left  for  Hut 
Point,  reaching  it  at  midnight,  and  by  2  a.m.  on  JNIarch  4 
the  entire  expedition  was  safe  on  board. 

Vol.  n.-i5  225 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

There  was  now  no  time  to  be  lost  if  we  were  to  attempt 
to  complete  our  work.  The  season  was  far  advanced, 
and  the  condition  of  the  ice  was  a  matter  for  anxiety, 
but  I  was  most  anxious  to  undertake  exploration  with 
the  sliip  to  the  eastwai'd,  towards  Adelie  Land,  with 
the  idea  of  mapping  the  coast-line  in  that  direction. 
As  soon  as  all  the  members  of  the  exjjedition  were  on 
board  the  Xi7nrod,  therefore,  I  gave  orders  to  steam 
north,  and  in  a  very  short  time  we  were  under  way. 
It  was  e\'ident  that  the  sea  in  our  neighbourhood  would 
be  frozen  over  before  many  hours  had  passed,  and 
although  I  had  foreseen  the  possibility  of  having  to 
spend  a  second  winter  in  the  Antarctic  when  making 
my  arrangements,  we  were  all  very  much  disinclined 
to  face  the  long  wait  if  it  could  be  avoided.  I  wished 
first  to  round  Cajie  Armitage  and  pick  up  the  geological 
specimens  and  gear  that  had  been  left  at  Pram  Point, 
but  there  was  hea\y  ice  coming  out  from  the  south, 
and  this  meant  imminent  risk  of  the  ship  being  caught 
and  perhaps  "  nipjoed."  I  decided  to  go  into  shelter 
under  Glacier  Tongue  in  the  little  inlet  on  the  north  side 
for  a  few  hours,  in  the  hope  that  the  southern  wind,  that 
was  bringing  out  the  ice,  would  cease  and  that  we  would 
then  be  able  to  return  and  secure  the  specimens  and  gear. 
This  was  about  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  JNIarch  4, 
and  we  members  of  the  Southern  Party  turned  in  for  a 
much  needed  rest. 

At  eight  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  4th  we  again 
went  down  the  sound.  Young  ice  was  forming  over 
the  sea,  which  was  now  calm,  the  wind  having  entirely 
dropped,  and  it  was  evident  that  we  must  be  very  quick 
if  we  were  to  escape  that  year.  We  brought  the  Nimrod 
right  alongside  the  pressure  ice  at  Pram  Point,  and  I 
pointed  out  the  little  depot  on  the  hillside.  INIackintosh 
at  once  went  off  with  a  party  of  men  to  bring  the  gear 

226 


HOMEWARD   BOUND 

and  specimens  down,  wMle  another  party  went  out  to 
the  seal  rookery  to  see  if  they  could  find  a  peculiar  seal 
that  we  had  noticed  on  our  way  to  the  hut  on  the 
previous  night.  The  seal  was  either  a  new  species 
or  the  female  of  the  Ross  Seal.  It  was  a  small  animal, 
about  four  feet  six  inches  long,  with  a  broad  white 
band  from  its  throat  right  do\\n  to  its  tail  on  the  under- 
side. If  we  had  been  equipjjed  with  knives  on  the 
previous  night  we  would  have  despatched  it,  but  we  had 
no  knives  and  were,  moreover,  very  tired,  and  we 
therefore  left  it.  The  search  for  the  seal  proved  fruitless, 
and  as  the  sea  was  freezing  over  behind  us  I  ordered 
all  the  men  on  boai'd  directly  the  stuff  from  the  depot 
had  been  got  on  to  the  deck,  and  the  Nimrod  once  more 
steamed  north.  The  breeze  soon  began  to  freshen, 
and  it  was  blowing  hard  from  the  south  when  we  passed 
the  winter  quarters  at  Cape  Royds.  We  all  turned  out 
to  give  three  cheers  and  to  take  a  last  look  at  the  place 
Avhere  we  had  spent  so  man)"  happy  daj's.  The  hut  was 
not  exactly  a  palatial  residence  and  during  our  period 
of  residence  in  it  we  had  suffered  many  discomforts, 
not  to  say  hardsliips,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  had  been 
our  home  for  a  year  that  would  always  live  in  our 
memories.  We  had  been  a  veiy  happy  httle  party 
within  its  walls,  and  often  when  we  were  far  away  from 
even  its  measure  of  civilisation,  it  had  been  the  Mecca 
of  aU  our  hopes  and  dreams.  We  watched  the  little 
hut  fade  away  in  the  distance  with  feelings  almost 
of  sadness,  and  there  were  few  men  aboard  who  did 
not  cherish  a  hope  that  some  day  they  would  once 
more  live  strenuous  days  under  the  shadow  of  mighty 
Erebus. 

I  left  at  the  winter  quarters  on  Cape  Royds  a  supply 
of  stores  sufficient  to  last  fifteen  men  for  one  year. 
The  vicissitudes  of  life  in  the  Antarctic  are  such  that 

227 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

such  a  supply  might  prove  of  the  greatest  value  to 
some  future  expedition.  The  hut  was  locked  up  and 
the  key  hung  up  outside  where  it  would  be  easily  found, 
and  we  readjusted  the  lashing  of  the  hut  so  that  it 
might  be  able  to  withstand  the  attacks  of  the  blizzards 
during  the  years  to  come.  Inside  the  hut  I  left  a  letter 
stating  what  had  been  accomplished  by  the  expedition, 
and  giving  some  other  information  that  might  be  useful 
to  a  future  party  of  explorers.  The  stores  left  in  the 
hut  included  oil,  flour,  jams,  dried  vegetables,  biscuits, 
jjemmican,  plasmon,  matches  and  various  tinned  meats, 
as  well  as  tea,  cocoa,  and  necessary  articles  of  equii)ment. 
If  any  party  has  to  make  use  of  our  hut  in  the  future,  it 
Avill  find  there  eveiything  that  it  requires. 

The  wind  was  still  freshening  as  we  went  south 
under  steam  and  sail  on  JNIarch  4,  and  it  was  fortunate 
for  us  that  this  was  so,  for  the  ice  that  had  formed  on 
the  sea  water  in  the  sound  was  thickening  rapidly, 
assisted  by  the  old  pack,  of  which  a  large  amount  lay 
across  our  course.  I  was  anxious  to  pick  up  a  depot 
of  geological  specimens  on  Depot  Island,  left  there 
by  the  Xorthern  Party,  and  with  this  end  in  view  the 
Nimrod  was  taken  on  a  more  westerly  course  than  would 
otherwise  have  been  the  case.  The  wind,  however, 
was  freshening  to  a  gale,  and  we  were  passing  through 
streams  of  ice,  which  seemed  to  thicken  as  we  neared 
the  shore.  I  decided  that  it  Avould  be  too  risky  to 
send  a  party  off  for  the  specimens,  as  there  was  no 
proper  lee  to  this  small  island,  and  the  consequences 
of  even  a  short  delay  might  be  serious.  I  therefore 
gave  instructions  that  the  course  should  be  altered 
to  due  north.  The  follomng  wind  helped  us,  and  on 
the  morning  of  I\Iarch  6  we  were  off  Cape  Adare.  I 
wanted  to  push  between  the  Balleny  Islands  and  the 
mainland,  and  make  an  attempt  to  follow  the  coast- 

228 


(SMtJwd  by  G,  Canton ) 


C 


NEW  COAST-LINE 

line  from  Cape  North  westward,  so  as  to  link  it  up  with 
Adehe  Land.  No  ship  had  ever  succeeded  in  penetrat- 
ing to  the  westward  of  Cape  North,  heavy  pack  having 
been  encountered  on  the  occasion  of  each  attempt. 
The  Discovery  had  passed  through  the  Balleny  Islands 
and  sailed  over  part  of  the  so-called  Wilkes  Land  of  the 
maps,  but  the  question  of  the  existence  of  this  land  in 
any  other  position  had  been  left  open. 

We  steamed  along  the  pack-ice,  which  was  beginning 
to  tliicken,  and  although  we  did  not  manage  to  do  all  that 
I  had  hoped,  we  had  the  satisfaction  of  pushing  our  little 
vessel  along  that  coast  to  longitude  166°  14'  East,  lati- 
tude 69°  47'  South,  a  point  further  west  than  had  been 
reached  by  any  previous  expedition.  On  the  morning  of 
March  8  we  saw,  beyond  Cape  North,  a  new  coast-line  ex- 
tending first  to  the  southwards  and  then  to  the  west  for  a 
distance  of  over  forty-five  miles.  We  took  angles  and 
bearings,  and  Marston  sketched  the  main  outlines. 
We  were  too  far  away  to  take  any  photographs  that 
would  have  been  of  value,  but  the  sketches  show  very 
clearly  the  type  of  the  land.  Professor  David  was  of 
opinion  that  it  was  the  northern  edge  of  the  polar 
plateau.  The  coast  seemed  to  consist  of  chfFs,  with  a 
few  bays  in  the  distance.  We  would  all  have  been  glad 
of  an  opportunity  to  explore  the  coast  thoroughly,  but 
that  was  out  of  the  question;  the  ice  was  getting  thicker 
all  the  time,  and  it  was  becoming  imperative  that  we 
should  escape  to  clear  water  without  further  delay. 
There  was  no  chance  of  getting  further  west  at  that  point, 
and  as  the  new  ice  was  forming  between  the  old  pack 
of  the  previous  year  and  the  land,  we  were  in  serious 
danger  of  being  frozen  in  for  the  winter  at  a  place  where 
we  could  not  have  done  any  geological  work  of  import- 
ance. We  therefore  moved  north  along  the  edge  of  the 
pack,  making  as  much  westing  as  possible,  in  the  direc- 

229 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

tion  of  the  Balleny  Islands.  1  still  hoiked  that  it  might 
be  possible  to  skirt  them  and  find  Wilkes  Land.  It 
was  awkward  work,  and  at  times  the  ship  could  hardly 
move  at  all. 

Finally,  about  midnight  on  JNIai-ch  9,  I  saw  that 
we  must  go  north,  and  the  course  was  set  in  that  direc- 
tion. ^Ve  were  almost  too  late,  for  the  ice  was  closing 
in  and  before  long  we  were  held  up,  the  ship  being  unable 
to  move  at  all.  The  situation  looked  black,  but  we 
discovered  a  lane  through  wliich  progress  could  be 
made,  and  in  the  afternoon  of  the  10th  we  were  in  fairly 
open  water,  passing  through  occasional  lines  of  pack. 
Our  troubles  were  over,  for  we  had  a  good  voyage  up 
to  New  Zealand,  and  on  INIarch  22  dropped  anchor  at 
the  mouth  of  Lord's  River,  on  the  south  side  of  Stewart 
Island.  I  did  not  go  to  a  port  because  I  wished  to  get 
the  news  of  the  expedition's  work  through  to  London 
before  we  faced  the  energetic  newspaper  men. 

That  was  a  wonderful  day  to  all  of  us.  For  over  a 
year  we  had  seen  nothing  but  rocks,  ice,  snov.-  and  sea. 
There  had  been  no  colour  and  no  softness  in  the  scenery 
of  the  Antarctic;  no  green  growth  had  gladdened  our 
eyes,  no  musical  notes  of  birds  had  come  to  our  ears. 
We  had  had  our  Mork,  but  we  had  been  cut  off  from 
most  of  the  lesser  things  that  go  to  make  life  worth 
while.  No  person  who  has  not  spent  a  period  of  his 
life  in  those  "  stark  and  sullen  solitudes  that  sentinel 
the  Pole  "  will  understand  fully  what  trees  and  flowers, 
sun-flecked  turf  and  running  streams  mean  to  the  soul 
of  a  man.  We  landed  on  the  stretch  of  beach  that 
separated  the  sea  from  the  luxuriant  growth  of  the 
forest,  and  scampered  about  like  children  in  the  sheer 
joy  of  being  alive.  I  did  not  wish  to  despatch  my 
cablegrams  from  Half  INIoon  Bay  until  an  hour  previously 
arranged,  and  in  the  meantime  we  revelled  in  the  warm 

230 


Last  View  of  Cape  Auare 


The  first  I,andino  in  New  Zealand  on  the  ui-.tukn  of  the  Exfeiution. 
A  Bay  in  Stewart  Island 


IN  NEW  ZEALAND 

sand  on  the  beach,  bathed  in  the  sea  and  climbed 
amongst  the  trees.  We  lit  a  fire  and  made  tea  on  the 
beach,  and  while  we  were  having  our  meal  the  wekas, 
the  remarkable  flightless  birds  found  only  in  New 
Zealand,  came  out  from  the  bush  for  their  share  of  the 
good  tilings.  These  quaint  birds,  with  their  long  bills, 
brown  plumage  and  quick,  inquisitive  eyes  have  no 
fear  of  men,  and  their  friendliness  seemed  to  us 
like  a  welcome  from  that  sunny  land  that  had  always 
treated  us  with  such  open-hearted  kindliness.  The  clear, 
musical  notes  of  other  birds  came  to  us  from  the  trees, 
and  we  felt  that  we  needed  only  good  news  from  home 
to  make  our  happiness  and  contentment  absolutely 
complete.  One  of  the  scientific  men  found  a  cave 
showing  signs  of  native  occupation  in  some  period  of  the 
past,  and  was  fortunate  enough  to  discover  a  stone  adze 
made  of  the  rare  pounamu,  or  greenstone. 

Early  next  morning  we  hove  up  the  anchor,  and  at 
10  A.M.  we  entered  Half  Moon  Bay.  I  went  ashore  to 
despatch  my  cablegram,  and  it  was  strange  to  see  new 
faces  on  the  wharf  after  fifteen  months  during  which 
we  had  met  no  one  outside  the  circle  of  our  owti  little 
party.  There  were  girls  on  the  wharf,  too,  and  every 
one  was  glad  to  see  us  in  the  hearty  New  Zealand  way. 
I  despatched  my  cablegrams  from  the  little  office,  and 
then  went  on  board  again  and  ordered  the  course  to  be 
set  for  Lyttelton,  the  port  from  which  we  had  sailed  on 
the  first  day  of  the  previous  year.  We  arrived  there  on 
March  25  late  in  the  afternoon. 

The  people  of  New  Zealand  would  have  "w^elcomed 
us,  I  think,  whatever  had  been  the  result  of  our  efforts, 
for  their  keen  interest  in  Antarctic  exploration  has 
never  faltered  since  the  early  days  of  the  Discovery 
expedition,   and  their  attitude   towards   us   was   always 

231 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

that  of  warm  personal  friendship,  but  the  news  of  the 
measure  of  success  we  had  achieved  had  been  published 
in  London,  and  flashed  back  to  the  southern  countries, 
and  we  were  met  out  ui  the  harbour  and  on  the  whanes 
by  cheering  crowds.  Enthusiastic  friends  boarded  the 
Nimrod  almost  as  soon  as  she  entered  the  heads,  and 
when  our  little  vessel  came  alongside  the  quay  the 
crowd  on  deck  became  so  great  that  movement  was 
almost  impossible.  Then  I  was  handed  great  bundles 
of  letters  and  cablegrams.  The  loved  ones  at  home 
were  well,  the  world  was  pleased  ^vith  our  work,  and  it 
seemed  as  though  nothing  but  happiness  could  ever  enter 
life  again. 


BIOLOGY 

Notes  by  JAMES  MURRAY,  Biologist  of  the  Expedition 

/^  N  the  calm  evening  of  our  departure  for  the  south, 
^-^  while  the  New  Zealand  coast  was  still  in  view,  the 
Nimrod  was  accompanied  by  a  number  of  southern  Black- 
back  or  Dominican  gulls,  with  their  beautiful  white-bor- 
dered black  wings.  An  occasional  cormorant  flew  past. 
Next  morning  these  shore  birds  had  left  us,  and  their  place 
had  been  taken  by  the  albatrosses  and  petrels  which  were 
to  keep  us  company  thenceforward  till  we  reached  the 
Antarctic  Circle. 

The  pretty  little  speckled  cape  pigeon  just  crossed  the 
Circle,  and  left  us  next  day;  the  black-browed  albatross 
was  seen  for  a  day  longer;  the  sooty  albatross  went 
furthest  into  the  Antarctic,  and  was  last  seen  on  Jan- 
uary 18. 

Just  at  the  Antarctic  Circle  we  were  met  by  those 
peculiarly  Antarctic  birds,  the  snowy  and  Antarctic 
petrels.  The  wide  zone  of  floating  ice,  a  hundred  miles 
or  more  across,  would  have  been  gloomy  indeed  without 
those  two  birds,  which  frequented  tills  zone  in  large  flocks. 
These  beautiful  petrels,  the  Antarctic,  with  strongly  con- 
trasting brown  and  white,  the  Snowy,  pure  white  except 
for  the  black  bill  and  feet,  relieved  by  their  bright  plumage 
and  sprightly  flight  the  loneliness  of  this  region.  A  few 
seals  and  penguins  on  the  lower  bergs  were  the  only  other 
living  things  among  the  ice. 

233 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

The  giant  petrel  and  the  httle  Wilson's  petrel  were  the 
only  birds  that  ranged  right  from  the  New  Zealand  coast 
to  the  shores  of  Victoria  Land. 

In  the  open  sea  to  the  south  of  the  belt  of  ice  even  the 
Antarctic  and  Snowy  petrels  for  the  most  part  left  us. 

The  desolation  and  lifelessness  of  the  Antarctic  were 
fully  realised  as  we  approached  the  great  Ice  Barrier. 
There  was  no  living  thing  in  sight  as  we  steamed  east- 
ward, tracing  the  line  of  this  immense  glacier.  Towards 
midnight  there  opened  suddenly  to  our  sight  a  scene  of 
abounding  life.  The  cliff  of  the  Barrier  terminated,  and 
a  wide  bay  opened  up,  extending  far  to  the  south,  and 
partly  filled  by  fast  ice  of  one  season's  growth.  Away 
to  the  eastward  the  cliff  recommenced.  This  bay,  which 
we  afterwards  referred  to  by  the  appropriate  name  of  the 
Bay  of  Whales,  was  teeming  with  all  the  familiar  kinds 
of  Antarctic  life.  Hundreds  of  whales,  killers,  finners, 
and  humpbacks,  were  rising  and  blowing  all  around.  On 
the  ice  groups  of  Weddell  seals  were  basking  in  the  mid- 
night sunshine.  Emperor  penguins  were  standing  about 
or  tobogganing  in  unconcerned  parties.  Skua  gulls  were 
flying  heavilj',  or  sitting  drowsily  on  the  ice.  Only  the 
Adelie  penguin  (busy  nesting  elsewhere),  and  the  rarer 
kinds  of  seal  were  absent. 

It  could  hardly  be  supjiosed  that  this  was  a  chance 
gathering  of  all  these  animals.  Passing  the  same  spot  on 
the  return  journey  westward,  there  was  still  the  same 
abundance  of  life.    There  was  probably  land  near  by. 

Cape  Royds. — To  the  biologist,  no  more  uninviting 
desert  is  imaginable  than  Cape  Royds  seemed  when  we 
made  our  first  landing,  and  for  long  afterwards.  Here 
is  absolute  desolation,  a  black  and  white  wilderness,  rugged 
ridges  of  lava  alternating  with  snowdrifts  for  a  few  miles, 
ending  to  the  north  and  south  in  crevassed  glaciers,  and 

234 


BIOLOGY 

eastward  in  the  snow-field  stretching  up  to  the  rocky 
crags  of  the  cone  of  Mount  Erebus. 

On  tlie  very  edge  of  the  sea,  the  httle  colony  of  Adelie 
penguins  and  the  scattered  skua  gulls  relieved  the 
monotony.  Beyond  was  no  hving  creature,  no  blade  of 
grass,  or  tiniest  patch  of  welcome  green. 

Bleak  and  bare  though  it  was,  this  stretch  of  two  or 
three  miles  of  broken  country,  where  rocky  peaks  and 
ridges,  moraines  and  snow  drifts,  diversified  the  surface, 
was  the  field  of  ojierations  for  the  biologist.  The  white 
waste  of  glacier  and  snow-field  was  hopeless,  the  nearer 
country  seemed  little  more  jDromising. 

The  sea  was  there,  kno^\Ti  to  be  teeming  with  varied 
life,  but  it  was  inaccessible  till  the  ice  should  bridge  it 
over. 

In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  camp  were  many  little 
sharp  peaks  of  kenyte,  and  short  valleys  filled  with  a 
cindery  gravel  derived  from  the  decomposition  of  the 
same  rock.  Moraines  covered  the  rock  in  places,  and  many 
of  the  valleys  contained  frozen  ponds  or  lakes  of  various 
sizes  up  to  half  a  mile  in  length. 

The  first  walks  over  the  hills  did  little  to  encourage 
the  biologist.  The  nigged  kenyte,  with  its  hard  pro- 
jecting felspar  crystals  tearing  the  boots,  supported  no 
living  thing.  Little  could  we  suspect  that  far  beneath  the 
thick  ice  of  the  lakes  was  plentiful  hfe,  dormant,  it  is 
true,  but  only  waiting  to  be  thawed  out  to  spring  into 
activity. 

Gradually,  as  we  came  to  know  it,  it  began  to  appear 
that  the  barrenness  was  not  so  absolute  as  we  at  first 
supposed.  On  an  early  walk,  Mr.  Shackleton  brought 
home  a  scrap  of  moss  and  lichen,  but  it  was  long  after- 
wards that  the  melting  of  the  snow  in  the  next  summer 
revealed   that  fact   that   on   some   of   the  moraines   the 

235 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

growih  of  mosses  and  lichens  was,  comparatively  speak- 
ing, luxuriant.  A  little  dried-up  pool,  some  two  yards 
across,  close  by  the  penguin  rookery,  was  quite  covered 
by  a  film  formed  of  bright  green  filamentous  alga;. 
Around  the  edges  of  some  of  the  smaller  lakes,  thick 
AVTinkled  sheets  of  a  plant  of  a  dingy  green  or  brown 
colour  were  seen,  resembling  some  of  the  large  foliaceous 
lichens  in  form.  Wild  brought  in  some  of  the  same  plant 
which  he  had  found  embedded  in  the  transparent  ice  of  a 
lake  afterwards  known  as  Clear  Lake.  In  this  situation 
it  was  of  a  beautiful  orange  red  colour.  Later  on,  this 
plant  was  found  to  be  abundant  in  all  the  lakes,  and  in 
many  of  them  it  formed  continuous  sheets  over  the  entire 
bed.  INIany  of  the  gravelly  valleys  showed  a  faint  green 
tinge,  showing  where  water  had  run  in  the  summer-time. 

Microscopic  Life 

It  was  while  examining  a  bit  of  the  orange-coloured 
weed  under  the  microscope,  that  the  first  fresh-water 
animals  were  found.  Two  or  three  little  red  worm-like 
creatures  were  seen,  creeping  about  like  caterpillars,  now 
and  again  coming  to  a  stop  and  putting  out  their  heads  to 
feed,  when  they  showed  themselves  to  be  rotifers,  or  wheel- 
bearing  animalcules. 

Having  thus  ascertained  that  there  were  microscopic 
animals  on  this  plant,  a  large  quantity  of  it  was  gathered 
and  washed  in  water  to  remove  the  adhering  organisms. 
The  sediment  obtained  was  concentrated  by  straining, 
and  a  drop  put  under  the  microscope.  INIyriads  of  li\ing 
things  appeared,  animals  and  plants.  The  plant-life 
consisted  of  various  spheres  and  threads  of  green  and 
blue-green  alga?,  some  of  the  latter  resembling  strings 
of  beads. 

236 


BIOLOGY 

The  animals  were  more  abundant,  and  in  greater 
variety.  The  creeping  rotifers  were  most  plentiful,  and 
there  were  several  kinds  of  them  besides  the  blood-red  one 
fii'st  noticed.     Some  were  of  curious  shapes. 

Many  were  feeding,  the  two  rotating  wheels  sweeping 
streams  of  minute  isarticles  towards  the  mouth. 

Small  bear-like  creatures  were  scratching  among  the 
debris  or  fiercely  "  pawing  the  air  "  with  great  curved, 
dangerous-looking  claws.    These  were  the  water-bears. 

Miniature  snakes  (thread-worms)  were  twisting  in  and 
out,  and  lashing  their  tails.  Some  of  the  simplest  of 
animals  (protozoa),  each  consisting  of  a  single  cell,  were 
there,  the  active  infusoria  swimming  rapidly  by  means  of 
their  ciha,  the  slower-moving  rhizopods  jiutting  out  their 
little  soft  fijigers  to  feed  or  creep  about.  Animals  higher 
in  the  scale  were  not  wanting,  though  these  were  never 
seen  alive.  Skins  of  some  mites  related  to  the  cheese  mite, 
and  of  some  small  shrimps  ( Crustacea)  were  occasionally 
found. 

Among  all  these  animals  the  rotifers  and  water-bears 
were  most  important  in  point  of  numbers,  and  they  lead 
such  strange  h\'es  that  they  will  be  more  fully  described 
in  later  paragraphs.  At  any  tinie  during  the  winter  an 
unlimited  supply  of  these  animals  could  be  got  for  studj^ 
by  simply  melting  a  piece  of  ice  containing  some  weed. 
In  summer,  the  ponds  and  smaller  lakes  were  completely 
melted  for  weeks,  and  tlien  they  were  still  more  easily  got 
by  washing  some  of  the  weed.  A  few  animals  not  found 
in  winter  then  hatched  out  from  eggs  and  swam  about  in 
the  water.  A  large  and  beautiful  rotifer  named  hydatina 
appear  in  Coast  Lake  only. 

In  Coast  Lake  also  a  curious  thing  happened  in 
summer.  The  stones  at  the  margin  became  covered  by 
bright  red  patches,  as  though  they  had  been  sprinkled 

237 


TJIE   HEART  OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

with  blood.  These  patches  were  found  to  be  formed  of 
rotifers,  of  the  same  kind  which  were  commonest  among- 
the  weed  in  winter.  The  red  stains  appear  to  rise  owing 
to  tlieir  rapid  nmltiphcation,  and  to  their  fixing-  them- 
selves side  by  side  as  close  as  they  can  pack.  The  i)hoto- 
graph  shows  a  small  part  of  one  of  these  stains  trans- 
ferred by  a  brush  to  the  microscope  shde. 

In  Coast  Lake  the  largest  of  these  patches  of  rotifers 
would  not  be  more  than  an  inch  in  diameter,  but  Priestley 
tells  us  that  in  a  lake  on  the  west  side  of  the  Sound  they 
formed  patches  "  as  large  as  a  man's  head  "  and  of  appre- 
ciable thickness.  Though  this  rotifer  usually  attaches 
itself  by  the  foot  when  feeding,  many  of  them  let  go  their 
hold  and  go  swimming  in  the  water,  so  that  when  water 
from  any  of  these  lakes  is  taken  for  driking  it  can  be  seen 
that  there  is  a  fair  sprinkling  of  red  grains  in  it  which 
must  be  swallowed  with  the  water. 

In  summer,  too,  in  very  shallow  ponds  and  trickhng 
streams  an  alga  of  a  brownish-green  colour  grows  in  large 
translucent  sheets. 

Life  in  the  Ice 

As  soon  as  animals  were  obtained  from  the  weed 
enclosed  in  the  ice  in  the  manner  described  above,  it  was 
obvious  that  mere  freezing  did  not  kill  them.  They  were 
first  got  in  the  shallow  lakes,  where  the  weed  could  be  seen 
through  the  transparent  ice  at  the  margins.  There  were 
plenty  in  all  the  shallow  lakes.  A  shaft  was  sunk  through 
fifteen  feet  of  ice  to  the  bottom  of  Blue  Lake.  There 
w^as  a  film  of  yellow  weed  covering  the  gravel  of  which 
the  bottom  was  composed,  and  on  this  weed  several  kinds 
of  rotifers  were  found  alive.  This  fact  seemed  more 
remarkable  later,  when  we  found  that  Blue  Lake  did  not 
melt  during  the  two  summers  that  -vve  spent  at  Cape 

238 


Vt 


bk5««. 


Claws    ok    a    W  atkr-Kf.ah.    MAfjviFiKt)    ahoit 
500   Diameters 


A    NEW   Species   of   Rotifi  .     i.     .  ^     \i    i   \]i 

ROTDS.       Its    distinctive    FKATUK^.    IS     IML    POS- 
SESSION   OF    WIN«-LIKE    PhOTUBEKANC-ES    AT    THE 

Sides 


*A  LARGE.  FKEE-SWIMMING  ROTIFER.  CALLED  Hy- 
DATINA.        It    is    VEHY    PLENTIFUL    IN    THE    COAST 

Lakes  in  the  Summer 


ViviPAROT7S    Rotifer    from    the   Salt    Lakes. 

The  oval  Bodies  seen  in  the  Adult  Animal 

ARE  THE  Young 


The  Ghegahious  Rotifer,  which  forms  Blood-red  Pat(  hes  in  the  Lakes  at  Cape  Royds 


*A  Single  Specimen  of  Gregarious  Rotifer. 
The  Dark  Portion  is  the  Stomach,  and  the 
OVAL    form    of    an    Unborn    Yovng    Rotifer 

CAN    BE    SEEN 


The 


commonest    Water-Bear 
Royds  District 


L\    THE    Cape 


BIOLOGY 

Royds.  This  means  that  the  animals  must  be  capable  of 
remaining  frozen  for  years,  possibly  for  maziy  years, 
without  being  killed.  Though  enclosed  in  the  ice,  there 
was  no  means  of  knowing  how  low  temperatures  they 
could  endure,  for  the  ice  in  the  lakes  might  never  be  so 
cold  as  the  ah-. 

A  few  simple  experiments  were  carried  out  with  the 
object  of  finding  what  degree  of  cold  they  could  survive. 
Afterwards  the  experiments  were  extended  in  other  direc- 
tions; they  were  heated,  they  were  immersed  in  various 
saline  mixtures;  in  short,  they  were  submitted  to  various 
tests  such  as  they  might  be  exposed  to  in  nature.  It  must 
be  admitted  that  we  did  not  ascertain  what  limits  of  tem- 
perature they  could  endure.  We  only  know  that  thej"  live 
at  a  certain  low  temperature;  the  Antarctic  was  not  cold 
enough  to  show  us  any  temperature  at  which  they  die. 

From  facts  previously  ascertained  we  may  predicate 
approximately  what  is  the  limit  at  the  other  end  of  the 
scale.  Animal  protoplasm  is  known  to  coagulate  at  a 
point  well  below  the  boiling-point  of  water.  As  the 
Antarctic  was  not  cold  enough,  it  was  intended  to  use  the 
resources  of  civilisation  in  order  to  get  greater  cold,  by 
the  use  of  liquid  air.  Unfortunately,  the  animals  had  to 
be  subjected  for  some  weeks  to  an  almost  tropical  tem- 
perature, and  were  found  to  be  all  dead  when  they  reached 
Sydney.* 

Tenacity  of  Life 

To  test  the  degree  of  cold  which  they  could  stand  blocks 
of  ice  were  cut  from  the  lakes  and  exposed  to  the  air  in 
the  coldest  weather  of  the  whole  winter.  By  boring  into 
the  centre  of  the  blocks  we  found  that  thev  were  as  cold 


*  Since  this  was  written,  examination  of  the  rotifers  in  London 
(in  September  1909)  has  shown  that  they  are  still  living. 

239 


THE  HEART  OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

as  the  air.  A  temperature  of  minus  40^  Fahr.  did  not 
kill  tlie  animals. 

Then  they  were  alternately  frozen  and  thawed  weekly 
for  a  long  jjeriod,  and  took  no  harm.  They  \\ere  dried  and 
frozen,  and  thawed  and  moistened,  and  still  they  hved. 
At  last  they  were  dried,  and  the  bottle  containing  them 
was  immersed  in  boiling  water,  which  was  allowed  to  cool 
graduall)'  and  still  a  great  many  survived.  Again  thej' 
were  put  into  sea-water,  and  into  the  brine  from  the  bottom 
of  Green  Lake,  which  is  so  salt  that  it  only  freezes  at 
about  zero  ( Fahr. ) .  They  were  left  in  these  salt  waters 
for  a  month,  yet  as  soon  as  they  were  transferred  to  fresh 
water  they  began  to  crawl  about  as  though  nothing  had 
happened. 

Such  is  the  vitality  of  these  little  animals  that  they 
can  endure  being  taken  from  ice  at  a  minus  temperature, 
thawed,  dried  and  subjected  to  a  temperature  not  very  far 
short  of  boiling-point,  all  within  a  few  hours  (a  range 
of  more  than  200°  Fahr. ) .  It  is  not  the  eggs  merely  that 
survive  all  these  changes,  but  the  grown  animals.  These 
are  animals  comparatively  high  in  the  scale.  The  rotifers 
are  worms,  and  the  water-bears  (which  stood  the  same 
tests)  are  cousins  to  the  insects  and  spiders.  Some  very 
lowly  plants  are  not  killed  by  being  put  in  boiling  water 
and  doubtless  many  very  simple  animals  can  live  through 
cold  greater  than  we  found  in  the  Antarctic.  Men  can 
endure  exposure  for  a  time  to  very  much  lower  tempera- 
tures, and  to  dry  heat  far  above  the  temperature  of  boil- 
ing-water, but  the  case  of  the  rotifer  is  very  different.  Its 
little  body  actually  takes  those  different  temperatures, 
man's  body  does  not. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  these  animals,  which  can  endure 
such  extremes  of  heat  and  cold,  and  other  imfavourable 
conditions,  readily  die  when  left  in  cold  water  at  a  mod- 

240 


THE  EMPERORS'  CONCLAVE 


BIOLOGY 

erate  temperature.  The  water  may  get  a  few  degrees 
warmer  than  they  are  accustomed  to,  and  may  be  insuffi- 
ciently aerated,  but  there  is  nothing  to  alarm  them  and 
induce  them  to  make  use  of  their  remarkable  means  of 
protection  (whatever  they  may  be).  Exposed  to  low 
temperatures  or  to  salt  water,  they  contract  into  little 
round  balls,  and  in  this  state  they  are  (somehow)  safe. 
In  the  cold  water,  which  is  just  slightly  unfavourable, 
the}^  see  no  cause  for  alarm,  and  so,  as  Mr.  Shackleton 
aptly  expressed  it  when  told  about  it,  "  they  go  out  with- 
out then*  Burberries,"  that  being  the  great  sin  against 
prudence  on  the  part  of  a  polar  explorer. 

The  rotifer  is  not  as  a  rule  a  long-hved  animal.  I 
have  heard  of  a  patriach  of  five  months,  which  then  came 
to  an  untimely  end.  Generally  their  span  is  to  be  meas- 
ured by  days  or  weeks,  or  at  any  rate,  is  limited  by  a  single 
season.  The  majority  of  the  creeping  rotifers  can  protect 
themselves  against  drying  up,  by  coating  themselves  with 
a  kind  of  varnish,  and  so  they  prolong  what  would  be  an 
ephemeral  existence  through  a  period  of  years.  As  all 
activity  is  susjJended  it  may  be  questioned  whether  the 
animal  gains  anything  by  this  marvellous  protective 
capacity,  but  at  least  the  chances  of  the  race  surviving  are 
greatly  increased  by  it.  The  Antarctic  rotifers  in  like 
manner  exist  in  a  state  of  suspended  animation  when 
frozen  in  ice  for  a  long  period.  If  the  lakes  in  which  they 
live  are  only  melted  at  long  intervals  and  for  short  periods, 
it  may  be  that  some  very  ancient  rotifers  are  aHve  beneath 
the  ice,  possibly  scores  of  years  old. 

VmPABOUS  Rotifers 

Most  rotifers  lay  eggs,  but  a  good  many  kinds  bring 
forth  the  young  alive  and  verj'  completely  developed.    At 

Vol.  n.-i6  241 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Cape  Royds, twelve  kinds  of  creeping  rotifiers  were  found. 
Eight  of  these  were  well-known  kinds  which  elsewhere 
lay  eggs,  and  at  Cape  Royds  they  are  reproduced  in  the 
same  way. 

There  were,  however,  two  other  kinds  at  Cape  Royds, 
unknown  anywhere  else,  and  these  are  greatly  more  abun- 
dant than  any  of  the  others.  It  has  been  told  how  one  of 
them  forms  blood-like  patches  in  the  lakes.  Now,  these 
two  species  bring  forth  living  young,  yet  they  belong  to 
groups  which  usually  lay  eggs.  One  of  them  belongs  to 
a  genius  {adineta) ,  no  other  known  member  of  which  is 
viviparous;  the  other  (philodina  gregaria)  belongs  to  a 
section  of  the  genus  in  which  all  the  previously  known 
species  are  oviparous. 

It  is  obvious  that  this  mode  of  reproduction,  being 
unusual  in  the  groups  to  which  thej'  belong,  must  have 
been  developed  as  an  adaptation  to  the  peculiar  conditions, 
and  their  extraordinaiy  abundance  shows  that  it  is  per- 
fectly successful.  Yet  this  is  contrary  to  our  preconcep- 
tion of  what  will  be  favourable  under  severe  conditions. 
It  is  usually  supposed  that  eggs  are  better  protected 
against  evil  conditions  than  the  adult  animals,  and  that 
production  of  winter  eggs  ensures  the  continuation  of 
the  race  when  the  animals  perish,  and  it  appears  to  be 
generally  so  among  the  lower  invertebrata.  Yet  here,  in 
one  of  the  severest  climates  in  the  world,  the  process  is 
reversed.  Not  only  are  the  animals  viviparous,  but  parents 
and  young  are  alike  indifferent  to  prolonged  interruption 
of  their  activity  by  freezing,  and  when  thawing  occurs, 
development  proceeds  from  where  it  left  off.  Since  the 
viviparous  rotifers  are  the  most  successful  in  the  struggle 
for  existence  at  Cape  Royds,  it  is  rather  curious  to  note 
the  total  absence  of  animals  of  the  genus  Rotifer,  which 
are  all  normally  viviparous. 

242 


^^■*n^"^*?$'^^ 


k 

^ 


pi. 


|L 


-MURKAV    liOhUi.NG    YOLNG    PENGLINS 


Two  Empkror  Penguins 


Al»t.LIt.     i't.NGl  INS 


BIOLOGY 

Life  in  Salt  Lakes 

Green  Lake  is  very  saline.  We  do  not  yet  know  how 
much  saline  matter  the  water  contains  when  the  lake  is 
entirely  melted  and  mixed  up  by  wind.  The  fluid  obtained 
from  under  the  ice  in  winter  is  a  very  dense  and  strong- 
smelling  brine.  There  is  abundance  of  life  in  this  lake, 
but  the  number  of  kinds  is  much  less  than  in  the  other 
lakes.  Only  two  out  of  the  twelve  species  of  rotifers 
known  at  Cape  Royds  live  in  it.  One  of  these  {callidina 
con^tricta)  is  not  very  plentiful;  the  other  {adineta 
grandis)  is  extremely  so.  This  animal,  wlaile  developing 
the  power  of  enduring  cold,  has  at  the  same  time  become 
accustomed  to  living  in  salt  water.  Though  they  were 
not  killed  by  the  Green  Lake  brine,  which  is  so  much  salter 
than  the  sea-water,  none  of  these  rotifers  have  been  found 
m  the  sea.  Water-bears  in  Ice 

Water-bears  were  found  to  hve  while  frozen  in  ice 
just  as  well  as  the  rotifers  did.  It  is  an  interesting  fact 
that  the  only  abundant  species  at  Cape  Royds  is  an  Arctic 
species  {macrohiotus  arcticus)  which  was  only  previously 
known  in  Spitzbergen  and  Franz  Josef  Land,  and  wliich 
has  not  yet  been  detected  in  the  various  collections  made 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Antarctic  by  Bruce's  and  Nor- 
denskj old's  expeditions. 

Distribution  of  Rotifers,  &c. 

Most  of  the  rotifers  and  other  animals  were  found 
generally  distributed  in  all  the  lakes  visited.  These  cov- 
ered a  ven.'  hmited  area,  the  most  distant  being  no  more 
than  thirty  miles  apart.  The  nature  of  the  microscopic 
fauna  of  other  parts  of  the  Antarctic  is  scarcely  knowTi. 
Some  of  the  Cape  Royds  lakes  are  richer  than  others, 
and  the  saline  lakes  are  poorer,  but  the  general  distribu- 

243 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

tion  of  most  of  the  animals  suggests  easy  dispersal  from 
one  to  another.  How  are  they  conveyed?  Only  two 
methods  suggest  themselves  to  one  acquainted  with  the 
local  conditions.  The  skua  gulls,  which  are  so  fond  of 
bathing,  may  transfer  a  few  adhering  to  their  feet  when 
they  go  from  one  lake  to  another.  No  other  bird  is  at  all 
likely  to  assist  in  this  process.  The  other  method,  which 
seems  likely  to  be  the  general  one,  is  by  wind.  The  weed 
at  the  margins  of  the  lakes  gets  exposed  and  dried  by  the 
evaporation  of  the  water,  or  more  commonly  by  the  abla- 
tion of  the  ice  from  the  surface.  It  is  then  very  light  and 
easily  blown  about  by  the  Mind,  carrying  its  freight  of 
dormant  rotifers,  &c. 

The  experiments  detailed  above  .show  that  in  course 
of  this  dispersal  they  are  scarcely  exposed  to  danger  at 
all.  The  hardest  frost  or  the  hottest  sun  cannot  harm 
them,  and  should  they  even  fall  into  the  sea,  they  will 
not  be  killed  if  the  plant  which  forms  a  raft  for  them 
eventually  reaches  the  shore,  when  they  may  be  again 
dried  and  driven  by  the  ^ind  till  they  find  a  suitable  place 
to  resume  linng.  A  difficulty  suggests  itself  in  consid- 
ing  this  theory  of  dispersal  by  wind.  The  prevalcTit  wind- 
storms are  all  from  the  southward.  Northerly  winds  of 
force  enough  to  move  the  dried  plants  are  almost  unknown. 
Though  northerly  winds  prevail  for  a  somewhat  greater 
number  of  hours  during  the  year  than  the  southerlies, 
they  are  very  light  airs.  Dispersal  would  then  be  easy 
in  one  direction  only,  and  might  be  very  slow,  and  depend- 
ent on  the  agency  of  the  gulls  in  other  directions. 

Life  Among  Moss 

The  moss-dwellers  are  now  well  recognised  among 
microscopic  animals.  There  are  rotifers  and  water-bears 
among  the  mosses  at  Cajie  Royds,  but  the  mosses  them- 

244 


BIOLOGY 

selves  are  not  very  abundant,  and  the  creeping  rotifers 
have  found  a  better  home  among  the  weed  in  the  lakes. 

Among  the  mosses  the  animals  lead  even  a  harder  life 
than  they  do  in  the  lakes.  In  the  lakes,  when  they  do 
melt,  the  rotifers  enjoy  a  period  of  some  weeks  when  they 
can  move  and  feed  and  multiply.  Among  mosses  they 
feel  at  once  the  lowest  temperatures  of  the  air.  They  are 
frozen  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year.  Thej'  are 
frozen  even  in  summer  for  the  greater  part  of  every  day. 
Only  for  a  few  hours  daih%  for  a  short  time  in  the  height 
of  summer,  the  moss  is  thawed  by  the  sun's  rays.  One 
wonders  when  the  beasts  get  any  time  to  grow.  Yet  they 
are  there  in  abundance.  They  are  all  of  different  kinds 
from  the  lake  dwellers.  Xone  of  the  rotifers  were  recog- 
nised, but  some  of  the  water-bears  were. 

Biological  Problems 

By  what  means  do  the  rotifers  sur\'ive  freezing?  It 
is  not,  as  with  higher  animals,  that  they  can  keep  warm 
in  spite  of  the  cold.  They  are  too  small  for  that.  Their 
very  blood,  as  the  waterj'  fluid  filling  the  body  cavity  may 
be  called,  freezes  very  soon  after  the  surrounding  water. 

Whence  is  the  microscopic  fauna  derived?  Are  the 
rotifers  and  water-bears  surWvors  from  the  remote  time 
when  a  milder  climate  prevailed  in  Antarctica,  when  the 
country  was  covered  with  a  vegetation  of  the  higher 
plants  and  the  coal-beds  were  in  course  of  formation  ?  Or 
are  they  colonists  from  the  temperate  regions,  wliich  have 
migrated  across  the  stormy  Antarctic  Ocean  under 
present-day  conditions? 

Some  of  the  facts  favour  both  theories.  The  small 
number  of  species,  and  the  fact  that  the  majority  of  them 
are  widely  distributed  over  the  world,  point  to  recent 
immigration. 

245 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Penguins 

Though  so  much  has  been  written  about  them,  the 
penguins  always  excite  I'resh  interest  in  every  one  wlio 
sees  them  for  the  first  time.  There  is  endless  interest  in 
watching  them,  the  dignitied  Emperor,  dignified  notwith- 
standing his  clumsy  waddle,  going  along  with  his  wife 
(or  wives)  by  his  side,  the  very  picture  of  a  successful, 
self-satisfied,  happy,  unsus])ieious  countryman,  gravely 
bowing  like  a  Chinaman  before  a  yelping  dog — the  little 
undignified  matter-of-fact  Adelie,  minding  his  own  busi- 
ness in  a  way  worthy  of  emulation.  They  are  j)erfectly 
adapted  to  a  narrow  round  of  life,  and  when  compelled 
to  face  matters  outside  of  their  experience  they  often 
behave  with  apparent  stupidity,  but  sometimes  show  a 
good  deal  of  intelligence. 

Their  resemblance  to  human  beings  is  always  noticed. 
This  is  partly  due  to  the  habit  of  walking  erect,  but  there 
are  truly  a  great  many  human  traits  about  them.  They 
are  the  civilised  nations  of  these  regions,  and  their  civili- 
sation, if  much  simpler  than  ours,  is  in  some  respects 
higher  and  more  worthy  of  the  name.  But  there  is  a  good 
deal  of  human  nature  in  them,  too.  As  in  the  human  race 
their  gathering  in  colonies  does  not  show  any  true  social 
instinct.  They  are  merelj'  gregarious;  each  penguin  is 
in  the  rookery  for  his  ovm  ends,  there  is  no  thought  of 
the  general  good.  You  might  exterminate  an  iVdelie 
rookery  with  the  exception  of  one  bird,  and  he  would  be 
in  no  way  concerned  so  long  as  you  left  him  alone. 

Some  little  suggestion  of  altruism  will  appear  in  deal- 
ing with  the  nesting  habits  of  the  Adelie.  Thieving  is 
knowTi,  among  the  Adelies  at  least.  One  very  pleasing 
trait  is  shown,  which  they  have  in  common  uith  man. 
Eating  is  not  v,i\h  them  the  prime  business  in  life,  as  it  is 
with  the  common  fowl,  and  most  animals.    Both  Emperors 

246 


BIOLOGY 

and  Adelies,  when  the  serious  business  of  nesting  is  off 
their  minds,  show  a  legitimate  curiosity.  Having  fed 
and  got  into  good  condition  they  leave  the  sea  and  go  off 
in  parties,  apparently  to  see  the  country,  and  travel  for 
days  and  weeks. 

The  Emperor 

We  saw  the  Emperor  only  as  a  summer  visitor.  Hav- 
ing finished  nesting,  fed  up  and  become  glossy  and  beau- 
tiful, they  came  up  out  of  the  sea  in  large  or  small  parties, 
apparently  to  have  a  good  time  before  moulting.  While 
the  AdeKes  were  nesting  they  began  to  come  in  numbers 
to  inspect  the  camp.  Passing  among  the  Adelies,  the 
two  kinds  usually  paid  no  attention  to  one  another,  but 
sometimes  an  Adelie  would  tliink  an  Emperor  came  too 
close  to  her  nest,  and  a  curious  unequal  quarrel  would 
ensue,  the  little  impudence  pecking  and  scolding,  and  the 
Emperor  scolding  back,  ^vith  some  loss  of  dignity. 
Though  more  than  able  to  hold  her  OA\'n  with  the  tongue, 
the  Adelie  knew  the  value  of  discretion  whenever  the 
Emperor  raised  his  flipper. 

They  were  curious  about  any  unusual  object  and  would 
come  a  long  way  to  see  a  motor-car  or  a  man.  When  out 
on  these  excursions  the  leader  of  a  party  keeps  them 
together  by  a  long  shrill  squawk.  Distant  parties  salute 
in  this  waj'  and  continue  calling  till  they  get  pretty  close. 
A  party  could  be  made  to  approach  by  imitating  this  call. 
The  first  party  to  arrive  inspected  the  boat,  then  crossed 
the  lake  to  the  camp.  Soon  they  discovered  the  dogs,  and 
thereafter  all  other  interests  were  swallowed  up  in  the 
interest  excited  by  them.  After  the  first  discovery  crowds 
came  eveiy  day  for  a  long  time,  and  from  the  manner  in 
which  they  went  straight  to  the  kennels  one  was  tempted 
to  believe  that  the  fame  of  them  had  been  noised  abroad. 

247 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

Ceeemoniks  of  JNIeeting 

Emperors  are  very  ceremonious  hi  meeting  other 
Emperors  or  men  or  dogs.  They  come  up  to  a  party  of 
strangers  in  a  stragghng  procession,  some  big  important 
aklermanie  fellow  leading.  At  a  respectful  distance  from 
the  man  or  dog  they  halt,  the  old  male  waddles  close  up 
and  bows  gravely  till  his  beak  is  almost  touching  his 
breast.  Keeping  his  head  bowed  he  makes  a  long  speech, 
in  a  muttering  manner,  short  sounds  following  in  groups 
of  four  or  five.  Having  finished  the  speech  the  head  is 
still  kept  bowed  a  few  seconds  for  politeness  sake,  then 
it  is  raised  and  he  describes  with  his  bill  as  large  a  circle 
as  the  joints  of  his  neck  will  allow,  looking  in  your  face 
at  last  to  see  if  you  have  understood.  If  you  have  not 
comprehended,  as  is  usually  the  case,  he  tries  again.  He 
is  very  patient  with  your  stupidity,  and  feels  sure  that  he 
will  get  it  into  your  dull  brain  if  he  keeps  at  it  long 
enough.  By  this  time  his  followers  are  getting  impatient. 
They  are  sure  he  is  making  a  mess  of  it.  Ajiother  male 
will  waddle  forward  with  dignity,  elbow  the  first  aside  as 
if  to  say,  "  I'll  show  you  how  it  ought  to  be  done,"  and 
go  through  the  whole  business  again.  Their  most  solemn 
ceremonies  were  used  towards  the  dogs,  and  three  old 
fellows  have  been  seen  calmly  bowing  and  speaking  simul- 
taneously to  a  dog,  which  for  its  part  was  yelping  and 
straining  at  its  chain  in  the  effort  to  get  at  them. 

Left  to  themselves  the  Emperor  penguins  seem  per- 
fectly peaceable,  and  no  sign  of  quarrelling  was  ever 
noticed.  When  a  party  of  them  was  driven  into  a  narrow 
space  they  resented  the  jostling,  and  flippers  were  freely 
used,  making  resounding  whacks,  which  apparently  are 
not  felt  through  the  dense  feathery  fur.  The  flipper 
strikes  with  equal  facility  forward  or  backward. 

They  seem  to  regard  men  as  penguins  like  themselves. 

248 


BIOLOGY 

They  are  quite  unsuspicious  and  slow  to  take  alarm,  so 
long  as  you  stay  still  or  move  very  slowly.  If  you  walk 
too  fast  among  them,  or  if  you  touch  them,  they  get 
frightened  and  run  away,  only  fighting  when  closely 
pressed.  As  one  slowly  retreats,  fighting,  he  has  a  ludi- 
crous resemblance  to  a  small  boy  being  bullied  by  a  big 
one,  liis  flipj^er  towards  the  foe  elevated  in  defence,  and 
making  quick  blows  at  the  bully.  It  is  well  to  keep  clear 
of  that  flipper  when  he  strikes,  for  it  is  very  powerful, 
and  might  break  an  arm. 

Emperors  were  killed  by  the  dogs,  but  it  is  likely  that 
they  hunted  in  couples  or  in  j^arties  to  do  this.  A  long 
fight  was  witnessed  between  an  Emjjeror  and  the  dog 
Ambrose,  the  largest  of  our  dogs  native  to  the  Antarctic. 
The  penguin  was  quick  enough  in  movement  to  keep 
always  facing  the  dog,  and  the  flijjper  and  long  sharp 
bill  were  efficient  weapons,  as  Ambrose  seemed  to  appre- 
ciate. Only  the  bill  was  used,  and  it  appeared  to  be  due  to 
short  sight  that  the  blow  always  fell  short.  JVIany  of  the 
apparently  stupid  acts  of  both  kinds  of  penguins  are 
doubtless  to  be  traced  to  their  very  defective  sight  in  air. 

The  Emperor  can  hardly  be  said  to  migrate  since  he 
remains  to  breed  during  the  winter  darkness,  and  spends 
the  summer  among  the  ice  or  on  shore  in  the  same  region. 
Yet  he  travels  a  good  deal,  and  the  meaning  of  some  of 
his  journeyings  remains  a  mystery.  The  visits  of  touring- 
parties  to  the  camp  have  been  described.  At  the  same 
season  (early  summer),  when  the  motor-car  was  making 
frequent  journeys  southward  to  Glacier  Tongue  with 
stores  for  depot  laying,  we  crossed  on  the  way  a  great 
many  penguin  tracks.  Many  of  these  were  beaten  roads, 
where  large  parties  had  passed,  some  walking,  some  tobog- 
ganing. They  all  trended  roughly  to  the  south-east,  and 
the  wing  marks  and  footmarks  showed  that  they  were  all 

249 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

outward  bound  from  the  open  sea  towards  the  shores  of 
Ross  Island.  Some  of  the  roads  were  twelve  miles  or 
more  from  the  open  sea.    There  were  no  return  tracks. 

We  expected  to  find  that  they  had  gone  in  to  seek 
sheltered  moulting-places,  hut  on  a  motor  tri])  to  the 
Turk's  Head  wc  skirted  a  long  stretch  of  the  coast,  and 
found  no  Emperors. 

On  journeys  they  often  travel  many  miles  walking 
erect,  when  they  get  along  at  a  very  slow  shuffle,  making 
only  a  few  inches  at  each  step.  In  walking  thus  they 
keep  their  balance  by  the  assistance  of  the  tail,  which 
forms  a  tripod  with  the  legs.  When  on  a  suitable  snow 
surface  they  progress  raj^idly  by  tobogganing,  a  very 
graceful  motion,  when  thej'  make  sledges  of  their  breasts 
and  propel  themselves  by  the  powerful  legs,  balancing 
and  perhaps  improving  their  speed  by  means  of  the  wings. 

Eight  of  them  visited  the  motor-car  one  day,  near 
Tent  Island,  sledging  swiftly  towards  us.  Two  of  them 
were  very  determined  fighters  and  refused  to  be  driven 
away.  One  obstinate  phlegmatic  old  fellow,  who  wasn't 
going  to  be  hurried  by  anybody,  did  learn  to  hustle  as  the 
car  bore  down  upon  him. 

The  Adelie 

The  Adelie  is  always  comical.  He  pops  out  of  the 
water  with  startling  suddenness,  hke  a  jack-in-the-box, 
alights  on  his  feet,  gives  his  tail  a  shake,  and  toddles  off 
about  his  business.  He  always  knows  where  he  wants  to 
go,  and  what  he  wants  to  do,  and  isn't  easily  turned  aside 
from  his  purpose. 

In  the  water  the  Adelie  penguins  move  rapidly  and 
circle  in  the  same  way  as  a  porpoise  or  dolphin,  for  which 
they  are  easily  mistaken  at  a  little  distance.    On  level  ice 

250 


Empekohs  Visit  the  Auelie  Rookery;  Ceremonial  Bowing 


Emperors  BowiMi  to  one  another 


^;v 


Cov 


AdELIB    keeping    HKK    YOUN«i    Onk    \\  ahm 


Ax  Adelie  inspecting  a  Dog 


Hi 


Group  showing  a  Moulting  PFNcriN 


UUILUING    Till',    NKsr 


An  Auelie  calling  fok  a  Math   AriKii  Commk-m  inc;  tmi:  .Nkst 


BIOLOGY 

or  snow  they  can  run  pretty  fast,  getting  along  about  as 
fast  as  a  man  at  a  smart  walk.  They  find  even  a  small 
crack  a  serious  obstruction,  and  pause  and  measure  with 
the  eye  one  of  a  few  inches  before  veiy  cautiously  hopping 
it.  They  flop  down  and  toboggan  over  any  opening  more 
than  a  few  inches  wide.  They  can  climb  hills  of  a  very 
steep  angle,  but  on  uneven  ground  they  use  their  flippers 
as  balancers.  They  toboggan  with  great  speed  on  snow 
or  ice,  or  even  on  the  bare  rocks  when  scared,  but  in  that 
case  their  flippers  are  soon  bleeding.  Veiy  rarely  they 
swim  in  the  water  like  ducks.  They  lie  much  lower  in 
the  water  than  the  duck.  The  neck  is  below  the  surface 
and  the  head  is  just  showing. 

The  Adelie  is  very  brave  in  the  breeding-season.  His 
is  time  courage,  not  the  courage  of  ignorance,  for  after 
he  has  learned  to  know  man,  and  fear  liim,  he  remains  to 
defend  the  nest  against  any  odds.  When  walking  among 
the  nests  one  is  assailed  on  all  sides  by  powerful  bills. 
Most  of  the  birds  sit  still  on  the  nests,  but  the  more  pug- 
nacious ones  run  at  you  from  a  distance  and  often  take 
you  unawares.  We  wore  for  protection  long  felt  boots 
reaching  well  above  the  knee.  Some  of  the  clever  ones 
knew  that  they  were  wasting  their  efforts  on  the  felt 
boots,  and  would  come  up  behind,  hop  up  and  seize  the 
skin  above  the  boot,  and  hang  on  tight,  beating  with  their 
wings.  One  of  these  little  furies,  hanging  to  your  flesh 
and  flapping  his  strong  flippers  so  fast  that  you  can 
hardly  see  them  move,  is  no  joke.  A  man  once  stumbled 
and  fell  into  a  colony  of  Adelies,  and  before  he  could 
recover  himself  and  scramble  out,  they  were  upon  liim, 
and  he  bore  the  marks  of  their  fury  for  some  time. 

Some  birds  became  greatly  interested  in  the  camji, 
and  wanted  to  nest  there.  One  bird  (we  believe  it  was 
always  the  same  one)   couldn't  be  kept  away,  and  came 

251 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

daily,  sometimes  bringing  some  friends.  As  he  passed 
among  the  dogs,  which  were  barking  and  trying  to  get 
at  him,  he  stood  and  defied  them  all,  and  when  we  turned 
out  to  try  to  drive  him  away,  he  offered  to  take  us  all  on 
too,  and  was  finally  saved  against  his  will,  and  carried 
away  by  Brocklehurst,  a  wildly  struggling,  unconquer- 
able being. 

The  old  birds  enjoy  play,  while  the  young  ones  have 
no  leisure  for  play,  being  engrossed  in  satisfj'ing  the 
enormous  appetites  they  have  when  growing.  Four  or 
five  Adelies  were  inlaying  on  the  ice-floe.  One  acted  as 
leader,  advanced  to  the  edge  of  the  floe,  waited  for  the 
others  to  line  up,  raised  his  flipper,  when  they  all  dived 
in.  In  a  i'(^w  seconds  they  all  popped  out  again,  and 
repeated  the  iierformance,  always  apparently  directed  by 
the  one.  And  so  they  went  on  for  hours.  VV^hile  the 
Nimrod  was  frozen  in  the  pack,  some  dozens  of  them 
were  disporting  themselves  in  a  sea-pool  alongside.  They 
swam  together  in  the  duck  fasliion,  then  at  a  squawk  from 
one  they  all  dived  and  came  up  at  the  other  side  of  the 
pool. 

Early  in  October  they  began  to  arrive  at  the  rookery, 
singly  or  in  pairs.  The  first  to  come  were  males,  and  they 
at  once  began  to  scrape  up  the  frozen  ground  to  make 
hollows  for  their  nests,  and  to  collect  stones  for  the  walls 
with  which  they  surround  them.  The  digging  is  hard 
work  and  is  done  by  the  feet,  the  bird  lying  prone  and 
kicking  out  backward.  As  soon  as  any  apology  for  a 
nest  is  ready  the  males  begin  displaying,  as  sho\ni  in  the 
acompanying  photograph.  He  points  his  bill  vertically 
upwards,  flaps  his  wings  slowly,  inflates  his  chest,  and 
makes  a  series  of  low  booming  sounds,  which  increase  in 
loudness,  then  die  away  again,  the  throat  vibrating 
strongly.    Then  he  slowly  subsides  into  the  usual  attitude. 

252 


BIOLOGY 

We  supposed  this  to  be  a  part  of  his  courtsliip,  or  as  some 
phrased  it  "  advertising  for  a  wife,"  but  there  is  good 
reason  to  suppose  that  the  pairing  is  done  before  the  birds 
leave  the  sea.  Generallj'  the  male's  displaying  passes 
entirely  disregarded.  He  continues  it  all  through  the 
nesting-season,  till  the  chicks  are  nearly  fledged  and  the 
moulting-time  is  near.  An  epidemic  of  displaying  often 
took  the  whole  rookery  at  once,  when  the  hens  were  mostly 
away  disporting  themselves  in  the  sea. 

When  the  rookery  is  pretty  well  filled,  and  the  nest- 
building  is  in  full  swing,  the  birds  have  a  busy  and  anxious 
time.  To  get  enough  of  suitable  small  stones  is  a  matter 
of  difficulty,  and  ma}'  involve  long  journeys  for  each 
single  stone.  The  temptation  is  too  strong  for  some  of 
them,  and  they  become  habitual  thieves.  The  majority 
remain  stujjidly  honest.  Amusing  complications  result. 
The  bearing  of  the  thief  clearly  shows  that  he  knows  he 
is  dong  wrong.  He  has  a  conscience,  at  least  a  human 
conscience,  i.e.,  the  fear  of  being  found  out.  Very  differ- 
ent is  the  furtive  look  of  the  thief,  long  after  he  is  out 
of  danger  of  jiursuit,  from  the  exjiression  of  the  honest 
penguin  coming  home  with  a  hard-earned  stone. 

An  honest  one  was  bringing  stones  from  a  long  dis- 
tance. Each  stone  was  removed  by  a  tliief  as  soon  as  the 
owner's  back  was  turned.  The  honest  one  looked  greatly 
troubled  as  he  found  that  his  heajD  didn't  grow,  but  he 
seemed  incapable  of  suspecting  the  cause. 

A  thief,  sitting  on  its  own  nest,  was  stealing  from  an 
adjacent  nest,  whose  honest  owner  was  also  at  home,  but 
looking  unsuspectingly  in  another  direction.  Casually  he 
turned  his  head  and  caught  the  thief  in  the  act.  The  thief 
dropped  the  stone  and  pretended  to  be  busy  picking  up 
an  infinitesimal  crumb  from  the  neutral  ground. 

The  stone  gathering  is  a  very  strong  part  of  the  nest- 

253 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

ing  instinct.  It  was  kept  up  while  sitting  on  the  eggs, 
and  if  at  a  late  stage  they  lost  their  eggs  or  young,  they 
reverted  to  the  heaping  of  stones,  wliich  they  did  in  a  half- 
hearted way.  Unniated  birds  occupied  tlie  fringe  of  the 
rookery,  and  amused  themselves  piling  and  stealing  till 
the  chicks  began  to  hatch  out. 

After  the  two  eggs  were  laid  the  males  appeared  to  do 
most  of  the  work.  At  any  hour  the  males  predominated, 
a  very  few  pairs  were  at  the  nests,  and  relieving  guard 
was  rarely  noticed.  The  females  were  never  seen  in  the 
majority.  Those  which  had  been  recently  do\Mi  to  feed 
could  be  recognised  by  the  fresh  Crustacea  round  the  nests. 
Judging  by  this  sign,  it  would  seem  that  some  birds  never 
leave  the  nest  to  feed  during  the  whole  period  of  incuba- 
tion. Many  birds  lost  their  mates  through  the  occasional 
breaking  loose  of  a  dog.  These  birds  couldn't  leave  the 
nests. 

Reabixg  the  Chicks 

The  rookerj'  is  most  interesting  after  the  chicks  arrive. 
INIany  curious  things  happen  as  they  grow.  The  young 
clucks  are  silvery  or  slaty-grey,  with  darker  heads,  which 
are  for  the  first  day  or  so  heavy  and  hang  down  helplessly. 
As  soon  as  they  are  hatched  the  mothers  take  equal  share 
in  tending  them,  whatever  they  may  have  been  doing  before 
that.  For  some  weeks  the  nest  cannot  be  left  untended 
or  the  chicks  would  perish  of  cold  or  fall  victims  to  the 
skuas.  The  parents  keep  regular  watches,  going  down  in 
turn  to  feed,  and  relieving  guard  is  an  interesting  cere- 
mony. The  bird  just  arrived  from  the  sea  hurries  to  the 
nest.  It  is  anxious  to  see  the  cliick,  and  to  feed  it;  the 
other  is  unwilling  to  resign,  but  at  last  reluctantly  gets 
off  the  nest,  e\ndently  very  stiff,  stretches  itself,  and  hangs 
about  for  a  while  before  going  dowTi  to  the  sea. 

254 


:^^   ^H 

■•A  .^m 
^    J 

,>4S|^^^^^^^fc^^j^^^^^ '  ^^K  ''W^t 

^,^               'j 

'- .  JI 

-Muiiit-ii   L'jLUit   Li..\.\  ^--^    ;ii.,   -\:-.^j. 


SxRAXGEltS    L»lSI'LAyiN\i    InTEHIIST    IN    TIIK     I.OXELY    CHICKS 


,  <  i    An  t-i-I  H    A  M  >    1 '  A  K  t. 


An  Adelie  Reftsixg  to  be  Frightened 


^'£-y\ 


^^^ 


"S& 


MrRRAT's  Advances  Resented 


-i       '.'   s," 


^^IH 


m 


Ai.ni.n;  thyim;    i<>    .MorntiK   A  coDPLK  of  WELL-grown  Stranoehs 


BIOLOGY 

When  the  young  ones  can  hold  up  their  heads  the  feed- 
ing begins.  At  first  the  parent  tries  to  induce  its  offspring 
to  feed  by  tickhng  its  bill  and  throat.  The  old  bird  opens 
its  mouth  and  the  chick  puts  its  head  right  in  and  picks 
the  food  out  of  the  throat.  The  bird  can  be  seen  bringing 
it  up  into  the  throat  by  an  effort.  If  the  young  is  unwill- 
ing to  feed  some  food  is  thrown  right  up  on  to  the  ground 
and  a  httle  of  it  picked  up  again  and  placed  on  the  claick's 
bill.  After  learning  the  way  there  is  no  need  for  such 
inducement,  and  the  parents  are  taxed  to  satisfy  the 
clamouring  for  more. 

For  some  weeks  after  the  young  are  hatched  life  in  the 
rookery  goes  smoothly  along.  One  parent  is  always  on 
the  nest  and  the  young  birds  do  not  wander.  Then  the 
trouble  begins.  The  young  begin  to  move  about  and  if 
anything  disturbs  the  colony  they  run  about  in  panic.  As 
they  don't  know  nest  or  parent  they  cannot  return  home. 
They  meet  the  case  by  adopting  parents,  and  run  under 
any  bird  they  come  to.  The  old  birds  resent  this  and  a 
cliick  is  often  pecked  away  from  nest  after  nest  till 
exhausted.  The  skuas  get  some  at  this  time,  but  it  is 
surprising  how  few.  Most  of  the  chicks  take  some  old 
one  unawares  and  get  in  the  nest.  She  may  have  a  chick 
already,  or  chicks,  but  as  she  doesn't  know  which  is  her 
own  she  cannot  drive  the  intruder  away.  A  sorely  puzzled 
bird  may  be  seen  trying  to  cover  four  gigantic  chicks. 
Some  of  the  less  precocious  youngsters  stay  at  home  long 
enough  to  get  to  know  the  nest,  and  can  find  their  way 
home  after  wandering  a  few  yards.  Such  homes  keep 
together  a  little  longer. 

The  time  comes  when  both  parents  must  be  absent 
together  to  get  enough  food  for  the  growing  chicks.  Then 
the  social  order  of  the  rookery  breaks  down  and  chaos 
begins.    The  social  condition  which  is  evolved  out  of  the 

255 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

chaos  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  in  nature,  yet  it  serves 
its  purpose  and  saves  the  race.  A  kind  of  communism  is 
established,  but  the  old  birds  have  no  part  in  it.  They 
cherish  the  fiction  that  they  have  nests  and  children,  and 
when  thej'  come  up  from  the  sea  after  feeding  it  is  their 
intention  to  find  the  nest  and  feed  their  own  young  oidy. 
The  young  ones  for  their  part  establish  a  community  of 
parents,  and  yet  it  isn't  exactly  that  either,  though  it  works 
out  as  if  it  were.  It  is  each  bird  for  itself.  The  chick 
assumes  the  first  old  one  that  comes  within  its  reach  to 
be  its  i^arent.  Perhaps  it  really  thinks  so,  as  they  are  all 
alike. 

An  old  bird,  coming  up  full  of  shrimps,  is  met  by 
clamorous  youngsters  before  it  has  time  to  begin  the 
search  for  its  hypothetical  home.  They  order  it  to  stand 
and  dehver.  It  objects  and  scolds,  and  runs  ofF.  It  may 
be  by  the  irony  of  fate  that  it  is  its  own  young  wliich 
accost  it,  but  it  can't  know^  that.  The  chickens  are  both 
imperative  and  wheedling.  Then  begins  one  of  those 
parent  hunts  wliich  were  so  familiar  at  the  end  of  the 
season.  The  end  is  never  in  doubt  from  the  first.  Every 
now  and  again  the  old  one  stops  and  expostulates.  This 
shows  weakness.  There  is  no  indecision  on  the  part  of 
the  young  one.  It  never  seems  anxious  as  to  the  result, 
but  in  the  most  matter-of-fact  and  persistent  manner  hunts 
the  old  one  down.  The  hunts  are  often  long  and  exhaust- 
ing. One  chase  was  witnessed  at  Pony  Lake  beside  the 
camj).  Xine  times  they  circled  the  lake,  and  the  hunt  was 
not  over  when  the  watcher  had  to  leave.  On  that  occasion 
they  must  have  travelled  miles.  At  the  end  the  old  one 
stops,  and  still  spluttering  and  protesting,  delivers  up. 
One  would  think  that  in  these  circumstances  the  weaker 
chicks  would  go  to  the  wall,  but  it  does  not  appear  to  be 
so.  There  are  no  ill-nourished  young  ones  to  be  seen. 
Perhaps  the  hunts  take  so  long  that  all  get  a  chance. 

256 


BIOLOGY 

A  few  days  after  the  eggs  began  to  hatch  there  was  a 
severe  bhzzard,  which  lasted  several  days.  Snow  was 
banked  up  round  most  of  the  birds.  A  snowdrift  crossed 
the  densest  part  of  the  rookery  partly  burying  many  birds. 
In  the  deepest  part  nests  and  birds  were  covered  out  of 
sight,  and  the  only  indication  of  the  whereabouts  of  a 
bird  was  a  little  fumiel  in  the  snow,  at  the  bottom  of 
which  an  anxious  eye  could  be  seen.  jNIany  less  deeply 
buried  birds  had  freed  one  wing  or  both,  which  became 
stiff  with  cold,  as  they  could  not  be  got  back  again.  The 
snow,  melting  by  the  heat  of  their  bodies,  and  refreezing, 
made  walls  of  ice  round  the  birds.  JNIany  got  alarmed  and 
left  the  nests,  when  the  snow  fell  in  and  buried  them.  In 
the  warm  sunny  weather  that  followed  the  melting  snow 
filled  many  nests  with  pools  of  water.  Some  birds  showed 
ingenuity  in  deahng  with  these  floods.  They  moved  their 
nests,  stone  by  stone  (always  keejiing  a  hollow  for  the 
eggs  or  chicks)  as  much  as  their  own  width  till  they 
reached  dry  ground.  Wliile  the  snowdrift  remained  some 
birds  whose  nests  were  buried  scraped  hollows  in  the  snow 
and  collected  a  few  stones.  On  a  moderate  estimate  about 
half  the  young  perished  in  this  blizzard. 

The  old  Adelies  do  not  mind  the  cold.  Their  thick 
blubber  and  dense  fur  sufficiently  protect  them.  In  a 
blizzard  they  will  lie  still  and  let  the  snow  cover  them. 
Going  to  the  rookeiy  once  after  a  blizzard  I  could  see  no 
jjenguins;  they  had  entirely  disaj^peared.  Suddenly  at 
some  movement  or  noise  I  was  surrounded  by  them;  they 
had  sprung  up  out  of  the  snow. 

Domestic  Entanglements 

While  the  Adelie  appears  to  be  entirely  moral  in  his 
domestic  arrangements,  his  stupidity  (or  Ms  short-sight- 
edness which  causes  him  to  seem  stupid)  gives  rise  to  many 

Vol  U.-17  257 


THE   HEART  OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

domestic  complications.  No  doubt  the  presence  of  our 
camp  upset  the  social  economy,  and  probably  when  undis- 
turbed notliing  of  the  kind  would  occur.  lie  has  little 
sense  of  locality  and  one  little  heap  of  stones  is  very  like 
another,  yet  pairs  seem  to  have  no  means  of  recognising 
one  another  but  by  the  rendezvous  of  the  nest.  Husbands 
and  wives,  parents  and  children,  do  not  know  one  another, 
but  if  found  at  the  nest  are  accepted  as  bond  fide. 

All  the  birds  go  to  their  nests  without  hesitation  when 
they  come  from  the  sea  by  the  familiar  route,  but  if  taken 
from  their  nests  to  some  other  part  of  the  rookery  some 
find  their  way  back  without  difficulty,  others  are  quite  lost. 
They  are  most  puzzled  when  moved  only  a  little  away 
from  home,  and  they  will  fight  to  keep  another  bird's  nest 
while  their  own  is  only  a  couple  of  feet  away.  A  bird 
will  defend  an  egg  or  chick  in  the  nest,  but  if  it  is  removed 
just  outside  it  will  peck  at  it  and  destroy  it. 

Considering  these  facts  it  will  be  evident  that  if  the 
rookery  be  disturbed  confusion  follows.  A  mere  walk 
among  the  nests  caused  innumerable  entanglements.  One 
bird  would  leave  the  nest  in  fright,  flop  down  a  yard 
away  beside  a  nest  already  occupied,  or  on  a  nest  left 
exposed  by  another  scared  bird.  Then  one-sided  fights 
would  begin,  one  bird  attacking  another  under  the  impres- 
sion that  it  had  usurped  its  nest,  the  rightful  owner 
troubling  little  about  the  vicious  pecking  he  was  receiving, 
sitting  calmly  in  conscious  rectitude.  A  fight  of  this 
Idnd  has  been  watched  for  an  hour  at  a  time,  three  neigh- 
bouring nests  having  been  disturbed.  One  bird  had  got 
into  another's  nest,  a  second  was  trpng  to  establish  a 
claim  to  the  occupied  nest  of  a  third,  and  meanwhile  the 
chicks  of  number  one  were  neglected  in  the  cold.  A  bird 
which  had  no  family  came  and  covered  the  chicks,  but 
looked  conscious  of  wrong  doing  and  kept  ready  to  bolt 

258 


BIOLOGY 

on  a  second's  notice.  All  these  birds  but  the  last  wanted 
their  own  nests  and  were  Mithin  a  yard  of  them  without 
knowing  it. 

In  all  such  cases,  even  when  a  bird  got  established  on 
the  wrong  nest,  there  was  always  an  adjustment  after- 
wards. ^Vhen  they  calmed  down  they  became  uneasy, 
probably  observing  the  landmarks  more  critically,  and 
would  even  leave  a  nest  with  chicks  for  their  own  empty 
nest.  A  chick  removed  from  the  nest  and  put  alongside 
was  not  recognised,  and  the  old  bird  never  seemed  to 
connect  the  facts  of  the  empty  nest  and  the  chick  beside 
it.  If  a  chick  were  taken  from  the  nest  under  the  old 
bird's  very  eyes  and  held  in  front  of  it,  it  was  always  the 
chick  that  was  viciously  attacked,  not  the  aggressor. 

Some  experiments  were  tried  on  them  in  order  to  trace 
the  workings  of  the  j)enguin  mind.  If  a  man  stood 
between  a  bird  and  its  nest  so  as  to  prevent  it  from  getting 
onto  it,  the  bird  would  make  many  attempts  to  reach 
home,  nishing  furiously  at  the  man.  After  a  time  it 
would  appear  to  meditate,  and  then  walk  oif  rather  dis- 
consolately, make  a  tour  of  the  colony  to  which  it  belonged, 
and  ajiproach  the  nest  from  another  side.  It  appeared 
greatly  astonished  that  the  intruder  was  still  there.  This 
curious  trait  was  often  seen.  It  is  like  the  ostricli  burying 
its  head  in  the  sand  and  imagining  it  is  safe,  or  like  a 
man  refusing  to  believe  his  own  eyes.  It  appears  to  think 
that  if  it  takes  a  turn  round,  or  comes  to  its  nest  from 
the  other  side,  the  horrible  vision  will  disappear. 

A  bird  was  taken  from  a  nest  which  had  a  chick  in  it 
and  put  down  at  a  little  distance.  ^Meantime  the  chick 
was  put  in  a  neighbour's  nest.  Presently  the  bird  came 
running  up.  It  started  back  on  seeing  the  empty  nest, 
not  in  alarm  or  fear,  but  exactly  as  if  tliinking;  "  I've 
come  to  the  wTong  house ! "  trotted  off  to  a  distant  part 

259 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

of  the  rookery.  Her  reasoning  seemed  to  be  this:  "  There 
was  a  chick  in  my  nest,  therefore  tliis  empty  nest  can't 
be  mine."  She  couldn't  miagine  the  chick  leaving  the 
nest,  and  so  never  searched  for  it.  It  was  only  a  yard 
from  the  nest  all  the  time.  After  half  an  hour's  searching 
in  vain  for  any  place  like  home  she  returned  to  the  nest, 
and  accepted  the  restored  chick  as  a  matter  of  course. 

A  lost  chick  was  never  sought  for.  There  would  be 
no  use;  it  couldn't  be  recognised.  On  account  of  this 
pecuharity  we  were  able  to  make  many  readjustments 
of  the  family  arrangements.  When  the  bhzzard  destroyed 
so  many  chicks  we  distributed  the  young  from  nests  where 
there  were  two  to  nests  where  there  were  none.  They  were 
usually  adopted  eagerly  and  the  plan  was  quite  successful. 

'When  both  birds  are  at  a  nest  that  is  disturbed,  or 
when  the  mate  comes  up  from  feeding  to  relieve  guard, 
there  is  an  interchange  of  civilities  in  the  form  of  a  loud 
squawking  in  unison,  accompanied  by  a  curious  move- 
ment. The  birds'  necks  are  crossed,  and  at  each  squawk 
they  are  changed  from  side  to  side,  first  right  then  left. 
The  harsh  complaining  clamour  which  they  make  was  for 
long  mistaken  for  (juan-eling. 

A  bird  returning  from  the  sea  came  to  the  wrong  nest 
and  tried  to  enter  into  conversation  Avith  the  occupant, 
who  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  him.  She  knew  her 
mate  had  just  gone  off  for  the  day,  and  wouldn't  be  such 
a  fool  as  to  come  back  too  early,  so  she  sat  still,  indiffer- 
ent to  the  squawking  of  the  other.  A  look  of  distress 
came  into  his  face  as  he  failed  to  get  any  response,  and 
he  was  slow  to  realise  that  he  had  made  a  mistake. 

A  small  colony  was  found  with  about  two  dozen  large 
chicks,  unattended  by  any  old  birds.  They  were  driven 
across  the  lake  to  a  larger  colony.  Half-way  over  a  few 
old  birds  were  squatted,  enjoying  a  rest.    ^Vhen  the  chicks 

260 


BIOLOGY 

saw  them  they  ran  up  to  them  joyfully,  saying:  "  Here's 
pa  and  ma,  hooray!"  To  their  surprise  they  got  the 
reverse  of  a  cordial  welcome,  being  driven  away  with 
vicious  peckings.  They  were  driven  on  to  the  larger 
colony  and  were  swallowed  up  in  it. 

The  Adelies  are  not  demonstrative  of  their  affections. 
It  is  difficult  to  discover  if  they  have  any  beyond  the 
instinctive  affection  for  the  young.  The  pairing  appears 
to  be  a  purely  business  matter,  and  the  mates  don't  even 
show  any  jDower  to  recognise  one  another.  A  penguin 
was  injured  by  the  dogs,  but  it  seemed  possible  that  it 
might  recover,  so  we  did  not  at  once  put  it  out  of  pain. 
In  a  couple  of  daj's  it  died.  Shortly  after  we  noticed  a 
live  penguin  standing  by  it.  We  removed  the  dead  bu'd 
to  a  distance,  and  after  a  while  found  the  other  standing 
beside  it  as  before.  It  was  the  general  opinion  that  it 
was  the  dead  bird's  mate  which  had  found  it  out.  Such 
an  action  is  entirely  opposed  to  what  we  expect  after  a 
long  study  of  their  habits.  There  are  always  plenty  of 
dead  birds  about  a  rookery,  and  the  living  go  about 
entirelj'  indifferent  to  them.  It  is  puzzling  in  any  point 
of  view,  but  it  is  less  difficult  to  believe  that  the  bird  found 
its  dead  mate  than  that  it  took  an  interest  in  a  dead 
stranger. 

Altruism 

When  the  young  birds  are  well  grown  if  there  is  an 
alarm  they  flock  together,  and  any  old  birds  present  in 
the  colony  form  a  wall  of  defence  between  the  young 
and  the  enemy.  This  habit  has  given  rise  to  the  belief 
that  they  are  somewhat  communistic  in  their  social  order, 
and  that  the  defence  of  the  colony  is  a  concerted  action. 
It  is  not  so.  Each  bird  is  defending  its  own  young  one 
only,  and  will  often  fight  with  another  of  the  defending 

261 


THE   HEART  OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

birds,  or  peck  at  any  young  one  which  comes  in  its  way. 

There  are  real  instances  of  altruism  or  kindness  to 
strangers.  Our  passage  tlirough  the  rookery  frightened 
away  tlie  parent  of  a  very  young  chick.  A  bird  passing 
at  the  distance  of  a  few  yards  noticed  it  and  came  over  to 
it.  He  cocked  his  head  on  one  side  and  looked  at  it,  as 
if  saying:  "'  Hullo!  this  little  beggar's  deserted;  must  do 
something  for  him."'  He  tickled  its  bill,  as  the  parents 
do  when  coaxing  the  very  young  chicks  to  feed,  but  it 
was  too  much  frightened  to  feed.  After  coaxing  it  in 
this  way  for  some  time  he  turned  away  and  put  some  food 
upon  the  ground,  and,  lifting  a  little  in  his  bill,  he  put 
some  on  each  side  of  the  chick's  bill.  Jusi,  then  the  right- 
ful parent  returned  and  the  helper  ran  oil".  This  was  not 
an  isolated  case,  but  was  observed  on  several  occasions. 

One  incident  seemed  to  reveal  true  social  instinct. 
From  a  small  colony  of  about  two  dozen  nests  all  the 
eggs  but  one  were  taken  in  order  to  find  out  if  the  birds 
would  lay  again.  As  it  turned  out  they  did  not.  The 
birds  sat  on  their  empty  nests  for  some  time,  then  they 
disappeared.  ^Vhen  the  time  came  for  the  solitary  egg 
to  hatch,  about  a  dozen  of  the  nests  were  reoccupied  and 
the  birds  took  their  share  in  defending  the  one  chick. 

Departure  of  the  Young 

When  they  have  shed  most  of  their  dowTi  the  young 
birds  congregate  at  the  edge  of  the  sea.  They  cease 
from  hunting  the  old  ones  for  food,  and  appear  to  be 
waiting  for  something.  When  the  right  time  comes,  which 
they  seem  to  know  perfectly,  they  dive  into  the  sea,  some- 
times in  small  parties,  sometimes  singly,  disappear  for 
a  time,  and  may  be  seen  popping  up  far  out  to  sea.  They 
dive  and  come  up  very  awkwardly,  but  swim  well. 

262 


Biuim  l{i&iN»i  FKOM  Snow 


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A    VjKW    Ot     TIU.     KOOKKUV     AtTKK    A    liLlZZARD 


KMPfcRORS    ON    TIIK    MaKCH 


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Emperors  at  rest 


BIOLOGY 

It  is  marvellous  how  fully  instinct  makes  these  birds 
independent.  The  parents  do  not  take  them  to  the  water 
and  teach  them  to  swim.  They  haven't  even  the  example 
of  the  old  birds,  wliich  stay  behind  to  moult.  At  an  early 
age  they  become  independent  of  their  own  parents,  and 
earn  their  living  by  hunting  any  old  bud  they  find. 
Though  they  have  spent  their  lives  on  land,  and  only 
know  that  food  is  something  found  in  an  old  bird's  throat, 
when  the  time  comes  they  leave  the  land  and  plunge 
boldly  into  the  sea,  untaught,  to  get  their  Uving  by  strain- 
ing Crustacea  out  of  the  water  in  the  same  way  as  the 
whale  does. 

Some  of  our  party  reported  that  they  saw  penguins 
teaching  the  young  to  swim,  but  if  this  ever  happens  it  is 
not  general.  Time  and  again  the  young  have  been 
watched  lea\'ing  as  described,  entirely  C)f  their  o\\ti  accord. 
At  that  season  nearly  all  the  old  birds  are  in  the  moult 
and  never  venture  into  the  water. 

Like  the  Emperor  the  Adelie  is  fond  of  travelling 
when  family  cares  are  off  his  mind.  The  great  blizzard 
which  wped  out  half  the  rookeiy  left  hundreds  of  old 
birds  free.  They  began  to  explore  the  adjacent  country 
in  bands.  The  round  of  the  lakes  was  a  favourite  trip 
and  broad  beaten  roads  marked  this  route.  Tracks  also 
led  to  the  summits  of  some  of  the  hills,  though  the  short- 
sighted Adelie  could  hardly  go  there  for  the  view. 

There  was  no  general  trek  soutliwards,  such  as  the 
Emperors  made,  yet  the  Southern  Party  found  tracks  of 
two  at  a  distance  of  some  eighty  mUes  from  the  sea. 

Nebuchadnezzar  and  Nicodemus 

These  names  dignified  two  penguin  chicks.  While 
chaos  reigned  in  the  rookery  I  found  them  exhausted  and 

263 


THE   HEART  OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

covered  with  mire,  having  been  hunted  and  pecked  through 
the  rookery.  They  were  taken  to  the  house,  put  in  a  large 
cage  in  the  porch,  and  fed  by  hand  with  sarchnes  and  lish- 
cakes.  The  feeding  was  (hsagrecable.  They  didn't  lilce 
the  food  and  shook  it  out  of  their  bills  in  disgust.  So  it 
was  necessary  to  force  it  down  their  throats  till  it  was 
beyond  their  reach. 

In  a  few  days  they  became  quite  tame  and  recognised 
those  who  fed  them.  Familiar  only  with  our  peculiar 
method  of  feeding  them,  one  of  them  indicated  when  he 
was  hungry  by  taking  my  finger  into  his  bill.  ^Ve  short- 
ened their  names  to  Nebby  and  Nicky,  and  they  answered 
to  them,  but  they  answered  equally  readily  to  the  common 
name  of  Bill.  The  sounds  of  the  rookery  reached  them 
and  sometimes  greatly  excited  them,  and  they  made  des- 
perate efforts  to  get  through  the  netting  of  their  cage.  At 
these  times  we  would  take  them  out  for  a  walk.  They 
made  no  attempt  to  go  to  the  rookery,  and  were  rather 
frightened. 

Nebuchadnezzar  was  a  very  friendly  little  fellow,  and 
would  follow  me  about  outside,  and  come  running  when 
called.  The  feeding  was  unnatural,  and  for  this  reason 
doubtless  in  a  few  weeks  they  died. 

The  Ringed  Penguin 

A  single  ringed  penguin  appeared  at  Cape  Royds  at 
the  end  of  the  breeding-season,  just  as  the  Adelies  were 
beginning  to  moult.  No  ringed  penguin  had  been  seen 
in  this  part  of  the  Antarctic  before.  It  was  evidently  a 
stray  one  which  had  come  ashore  to  moult.  It  is  about 
the  same  size  as  the  Adelie,  but  is  more  agile.  It  was  at 
the  season  when  the  young  Adelies  go  off  to  sea.  At  a 
little  distance  the  ringed  penguin,  among  a  crowd  of  old 

264 


RETURN  OF  THE  PENGUINS 


BIOLOGY 

Adelies,  looked  somewhat  like  a  young  Adelie  with  the 
wloite  throat.  I  picked  him  up  by  the  legs  to  hivestigate. 
To  my  surprise  he  curled  round  and  bit  me  on  the  hand. 
An  Adelie  could  not  do  so.  A  closer  examination  showed 
what  he  was. 

The  Skua  Gull 

Some  hundreds  of  skuas  nested  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Cape  Royds.  At  Green  Lake  and  Coast  Lake  they 
were  aggregated  in  what  were  known  as  skuaries.  Coast 
Lake  was  the  most  populous  skuary.  Elsewhere  they 
were  widely  scattered  over  the  lower  hills.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  they  are  not  social  or  even  gregarious  birds, 
and  that  they  congregate  at  such  places  as  Coast  Lake 
out  of  their  fondness  for  fresh-water  bathing.  They  do 
not  love  their  kind,  nor  have  they  any  inducement  to. 
Skua  will  prey  on  skua. 

They  are  callous,  greedy,  vulturous  and  disgusting. 
They  may  be  seen  sitting  in  a  circle  round  a  sick  or 
wounded  penguin,  and  they  have  been  suspected  of  medi- 
tating an  attack  on  the  eyes  of  a  sleeping  man.  When 
the  young  penguins  are  hatcliing  they  squat  down  right 
among  the  nests  waiting  for  a  chance  to  snatch  one. 

When  they  have  eggs  or  J^oung  they  swoojj  down  on 
an  intruder  in  a  menacing  manner,  which  is  rather  alarm- 
ing when  one  knows  how  sharp  and  strong  are  their  bills 
and  claws.  They  rarely  strike,  however,  thinking  better 
of  it  at  the  last  moment,  and  swerving  suddenly  upwards. 
When  they  do  strike  it  is  probably  through  miscalculation. 
Some  birds  were  known  which  did  habitually  strike  at 
every  swoop.  These  blows  did  no  damage,  as  if  they 
come  in  front  one  involuntarily  ducks,  and  from  any 
other  direction  they  strike  the  cap  only. 

They  were  verj^  bitter  against  dogs,  and  gave  no  atten- 

205 


THE   HEART  OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

tion  to  men  when  they  were  present.  Several  of  the  dogs 
had  learned  to  eat  skua  eggs,  and  the  birds  no  doubt 
knew  of  this.  They  have  a  harsh  cry,  and  the  shrill 
chorus  that  went  up  when  we  had  failed  to  find  a  nest 
sounded  very  much  like  laughter.  They  are  very  quarrel- 
some. When  the  rookery  was  strewn  with  fresh  penguin 
carcases,  victims  of  some  dogs  which  had  broken  loose, 
the  skuas  would  fight  viciously  over  one,  when  there 
were  plenty  for  aU. 

The  skua  has  no  true  courage  like  the  penguin.  On 
one  occasion  we  snared  a  skua  and  dragged  it  by  a  string 
into  the  midst  of  a  small  colony  of  penguins  in  order  to 
see  how  these  ancient  enemies  would  behave  when  brought 
together.  The  penguins  nearest  to  the  skua  pecked  at  it 
without  leaving  their  nests.  It  bit  and  scratched  for  a 
veiy  short  while,  and  then  gave  it  up  and  made  no  attempt 
to  defend  itself,  though  it  was  not  hurt.  As  it  lay  motion- 
less some  one  called  out  that  the  poor  thing  was  killed, 
and  we  began  to  feel  remorse  for  our  cruel  experiment, 
but  when  thrown  up  into  the  air  the  skua  did  not  come 
down  again.  The  bird's  one  virtue  is  cleanliness.  It 
enjoys  its  bath.  Wherever  there  is  a  pool  of  fresh  water 
the  skuas  may  be  seen  splashing  with  great  gusto,  and 
they  will  bathe  in  a  sea  pool  on  occasion. 

Whales 

In  summer  whales  were  locally  abundant,  though 
nowhere  else  in  such  numbers  as  we  saw  in  the  Bay  of 
Whales  at  the  Great  Barrier.  As  long  as  there  was  open 
water  small  schools  of  tinners  and  larger  ones  of  killers 
were  seen  daily  in  IVIclNIurdo  Sound.  Even  when  the 
Sound  was  densely  filled  Avith  pack,  they  came  to  the  little 
sea-pools.  For  a  long  time  in  winter  no  whales  were 
reported. 

266 


K&''  '>^. 


■U--. 


KiLLKK  Whales  Sounding 


Seal  sucklivq  Young,  ant>  taking  no  Notice  of  the  Motor  Car 


^i»t« 


rt 


.  .-A.&.aibic^ 


JoYCfi:  LiFTiN  ■    ^    1    .1  >   Seax, 


^^ 


Skca  Gulls 


Skal-s  Emerging  from  thk  Watkr  at  their  Blow-holes 


BIOLOGY 

The  finner  wdth  its  little  fiii  about  half-way  along  the 
back,  and  its  long  pointed  head,  came  very  near,  and  often 
grazed  the  sliip.  One  came  vertically  uj)  close  by  the 
ship's  side,  the  snout  ten  or  twelve  feet  out  of  the  water. 
As  usual  in  such  emergencies  none  of  the  cameras  were 
ready. 

The  killers  were  often  in  family  parties,  or  a  few 
families  together,  some  bulls  of  great  size,  with  magnifi- 
cent triangular  fin,  like  a  boat's  sail,  six  or  eight  feet 
long,  the  cows  with  much  smaller,  often  curved  tin,  the 
calves  following  close  by  their  mothers'  tails  to  avoid 
getting  lost.  Some  veiy  small  calves  were  seen  in 
January. 

The  humpback,  with  little  rounded  fin  set  far  back, 
and  the  bottle-nose  were  rarely  seen. 

The  killer  sometimes  rested  liis  head  on  the  edge  of  a 
floe  and  looked  about  with  his  wicked  Uttle  eye  for  a  seal 
or  penguin.  These  he  would  try  to  knock  off  by  rising 
under  the  floe,  and  on  one  occasion  a  party  of  three  men, 
who  spent  an  anxious  twenty-four  hours  adrift  on  a  floe, 
related  that  the  killers  were  trying  this  experiment  with 
them. 

Seals 

Of  the  four  Antarctic  seals  only  the  Weddell  was 
common  at  Cape  Royds.  The  crabeater  kept  to  the  pack 
and  rarely  came  on  shore.  The  sea-leopard  and  the  Ross 
seal  were  very  rare. 

The  Weddell  seal,  or  false  sea-leopard,  is  a  large  and 
heavy  animal.  The  skin  and  blubber  of  one  large  seal 
made  a  full  sledge  load.  When  it  lies  peacefully  on  the 
ice  it  is  a  shapeless  lump.  If  disturbed,  as  for  instance 
by  putting  your  foot  on  it  or  throwing  a  dog  at  it,  it 
shows  ludicrous  astonishment,  curv^es  both  ends  towards 
the  intruder,  open  its  mouth  astonishingly  wide,  gasps  and 

267 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

bleats  wth  fear,  its  eyes  starting  from  its  head.  It  is 
slow  to  think  of  escaping,  though  its  blow-hole  may  be 
close  by,  and  prefers  to  roll  over  sideways. 

Sometimes  the  \Veddells  pretend  to  be  very  fierce, 
and  open  the  mouth  to  emit  a  kind  of  bellow,  but  they 
have  no  belief  in  their  own  fierceness  and  are  usually 
looping  away  before  the  roar  has  time  to  frighten  the 
enemy.  In  autumn  as  many  as  one  hundred  Weddells 
have  been  counted  together  on  the  ice  of  one  little  bay. 
Even  in  winter  thej'  came  up  through  the  tide-cracks 
occasional!}',  though  sometimes  several  weeks  would  jjass 
without  any  being  seen.  They  used  the  holes  which  we 
kept  open  for  dredging  as  blow-holes,  and  sometimes  they 
reached  there  in  a  very  exhausted  condition,  as  evidenced 
bj'  their  distressed  breathing.  At  these  seasons  there 
might  be  no  other  breathing-space  for  a  long  distance. 

The  nearest  rookery  of  Weddells  was  at  Inaccessible 
Island,  about  eight  miles  from  the  camp.  When  the  first 
young  were  born  early  in  November  we  ran  out  frequently 
by  motor-car  to  watch  them.  They  were  in  no  way 
alarmed  by  the  car. 

The  newly  born  calves,  in  their  rough  grey  fur,  already 
tried  the  intimidating  roar,  but  there  was  more  fear  than 
fierceness  in  it.  They  can  snap  their  lower  jaws  against 
the  upper  very  rapidly,  but  without  much  force. 

Some  of  the  mothers  were  very  cowardly,  and  made 
for  the  blow-holes,  leaving  the  young  to  their  fate.  Others 
made  a  determined  stand  against  the  intruders  and  looked 
so  much  like  business  that  we  didn't  care  to  venture  too 
near,  and  a  few  carried  the  war  into  the  enemy's  country 
and  ran  at  us  and  chased  us  off.  The  rough  coat  is  cast 
and  the  smooth  spotted  skin  like  the  adult  appears  at  a 
very  earh^  age.  In  the  middle  of  November  we  could 
scarcely  find  any  that  hadn't  more  or  less  moulted. 

268 


Weddell  Seals  (Quarrelling 


A  Weddell  Seal  .vsleep 


SOMK    OF    THK    DoGS 


BIOLOGY 

The  crabeater  can  move  much  faster  on  ice  or  land 
than  the  Weddell.  When  not  frightened  it  progresses 
in  the  same  way  as  the  Weddell,  arching  the  back  in 
caterpillar  fashion  very  rapidly.  When  alarmed  and 
excited  it  goes  along  for  a  short  time  in  another  manner, 
sweeijing  the  tail  end  from  side  to  side,  much  as  a  fish 
swims  and  actually  gets  forward  a  Httle  in  this  way.  A 
crabeater  is  able  to  hold  its  own  against  one  dog,  though 
it  might  be  overcome  by  several.  A  fight  between  one 
and  the  dog  Erebus  lasted  for  an  hour,  if  it  could  be 
called  a  fight  where  they  never  came  to  close  quarters. 
The  lighter  dog  circled  about,  snapping  at  the  seal's  neck 
and  flippers.  The  crabeater  always  turned  smartly  enough 
to  be  ready  for  him  and  frequentlj^  made  a  feint  of  moving 
in  one  direction,  then  made  a  sudden  turn  and  snap, 
drawing  his  head  close  down  to  his  shoulders  and  shooting 
it  out  as  he  snajiped,  just  as  the  sea-leopard  is  said  to  do. 
It  was  much  more  fatiguing  for  the  heavy  seal  than  for 
the  dog,  and  it  breathed  heavily,  making  a  continuous 
sound  with  its  nostrils  like  snoring,  but  at  the  end  of  the 
hour  it  was  still  able  to  take  care  of  itself.  It  became 
very  angry  as  the  dog's  attack  continued,  wliereas  the 
Weddell  after  any  amount  of  baiting  only  seems  more 
and  more  astonished. 

The  Dogs 

Our  dogs,  though  of  an  originally  Siberian  strain,  were 
reared  in  the  mild  climate  of  New  Zealand,  beinff  the 
descendants  of  dogs  left  there  some  generations  ago  by 
a  returning  expedition.  They  were  small,  and  showed 
evidence  of  crossing  with  ignoble  races.  Yet  they  showed 
no  sign  of  degeneracy  in  their  ability  to  endure  the 
unaccustomed  severe  climate,  and  on  the  short  journeys 
for  which  they  were  used  they  did  splendid  work. 

269 


THE   HEART  OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

They  revelled  in  the  cold,  enjoyed  nothing  so  much 
as  a  roll  and  a  fight  in  a  snowdrift,  and  woiddn't  use  the 
kennels  provided  for  them,  preferring  to  curl  up  in  the 
snow,  at  most  in  the  shelter  of  the  kennels,  or  to  he  on 
anything  dark,  such  as  a  coal-bag.  They  showed  some 
characteristics  of  the  wild  northern  dog,  and  some  had 
traces  of  their  wolf  ancestry.  Gwen  was  purely  wolfish 
in  her  w^ildness  and  impatience  of  restraint,  and  her  son 
Terror  was  like  her.  It  was  attempted  once  to  muzzle 
Gwen,  after  some  penguin  hunting  exploit,  but  she  nearly 
went  mad  in  her  efforts  to  get  rid  of  the  muzzle,  turning 
and  twisting  so  rapidly  that  the  eye  couldn't  follow  her, 
and  she  had  to  be  freed  from  it. 

The  struggle  for  kingship  was  not  so  sanguinary  as 
is  common  with  such  dogs.  Old  Scamp's  authority  was 
never  seriously  disputed,  though  Trip  and  Wolf  occa- 
sionally fought  him.  Scamp  was  not  the  heaviest  or 
strongest  dog,  but  he  downed  them  all  by  his  vehemence. 
The  females  were  very  jealous,  and  were  apt  to  eat  one 
another's  litters.  They  make  very  good  mothers.  A 
litter  was  born  on  the  Nimrod  while  going  south.  After 
we  landed  one  of  these  pups  was  killed  l)y  the  fall  of  a 
house  during  a  blizzard.  The  body  was  flung  out  on  the 
hill-side,  some  distance  away.  The  mother.  Possum,  dis- 
covered it  and  nursed  it  for  a  whole  day.  Though  some- 
what fierce  and  quarrelsome  among  themselves,  the  dogs 
were  very  friendl\'  to  man.  They  would  take  the  severest 
beating  when  they  had  been  misbehaving,  and  be  friends 
the  moment  it  was  over. 

The  young  pups,  born  in  the  Antarctic,  were  very 
self-reUant  little  things.  When  \Gr\  young  they  used 
to  issue  from  their  shelter,  run  out  in  the  snow  and  bark 
in  defiance  of  everything.  They  got  their  drinking-water 
for  a  long  time  in  the  form  of  snow,  and  when  summer 

270 


BIOLOGY 

came  and  water  was  given  to  them,  they  did  not  know 
what  to  make  of  it  at  first.  They  soon  learned  to  appre- 
ciate it,  and  to  consider  it  as  the  most  valuable  of  all 
things,  for  of  food  there  was  always  super-abundance. 
In  late  summer,  when  the  snow  had  nearly  all  disappeared, 
and  the  lake  by  the  house  was  frozen,  then  came  a  sort  of 
water  famine.  We  had  no  time  to  break  the  ice  and  give 
them  water  more  than  once  a  day.  They  got  pretty  thirsty 
in  the  sun,  and  some  of  them  showed  a  good  deal  of  intel- 
ligence in  asking  for  and  dealing  with  water. 

One  day,  on  going  out  of  the  house,  I  heard  the  dog 
Roland  barking  furiously.  Roland  was  tied  at  a  good 
distance  from  the  house,  and  for  some  time  I  paid  no 
attention  to  the  barking.  When  at  last  I  looked  in  the 
right  direction,  Roland  picked  up  her  water  tin  and 
waved  it  frantically  over  her  head. 

An  old  dog,  Wolf,  was  so  convinced  of  the  value  of 
water  that,  when  a  bowlful  was  given  to  him,  he  did  not 
drink  it  all  at  once,  but  tried  to  keep  a  reserve  for  future 
use.  He  tried  to  bury  it,  as  dogs  habitually  do  with  food. 
He  carried  the  bowl  carefully  in  his  mouth,  placed  it  in 
a  hollow,  and  covered  it  up  with  gravel.  Of  course  he 
lost  the  water,  but  the  attempt  deserved  success. 

In  their  hunting  they  showed  much  intelligence.  They 
took  much  greater  liberties  with  the  helpless  Weddell  seal 
than  with  the  more  active  and  aggressive  crabeater,  and 
as  for  the  sea-leopard  they  seemed  to  know  enough  to 
leave  him  alone  altogether.  They  hunted  in  couples  or 
parties,  and  so  got  the  better  of  the  penguins.  The  pen- 
guins appear  to  be  provided  with  efficient  defensive 
weapons,  but  the  dogs  learned  where  to  seize  them  safely. 
While  one  dog  kept  the  attention  of  a  penguin  in  front, 
another  slipped  round  behind  it  and  snapped  at  its  leg. 

271 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Some  bolder  dogs  attacked  the  penguin  in  front,  waiting 
for  chance  to  bite  at  the  neck.  One  snap  finished  the 
fight,  the  dogs  usually  leaving  the  disabled  bird  to  chase 
a  fresh  one. 

After  learning  that  penguin  hunting  was  a  punishable 
offence  the  dogs  became  very  cunning.  They  slipped 
away  on  their  hunting  expeditions,  without  attracting 
attention,  and  the  first  intimation  we  had  of  it  was  the 
distant  barldng  as  they  surrounded  some  poor  bird. 
Though  they  could  have  but  little  experience  of  the  effect 
of  shooting  they  stood  in  wholesome  terror  of  a  gun. 
Daisy  and  Gwen  especially  knew  that  a  gun  coidd  hurt  at 
a  distance,  and  that  flight  was  useless,  so  they  slunk  home 
when  a  shot  was  fired,  keeping  cover  as  far  as  possible, 
and  hid  below  the  house. 

Daisy  was  the  most  inveterate  hunter,  and  regularly 
took  her  children  away  to  teach  them  to  become  self-sup- 
porting. At  last  her  propensity  led  her,  there  is  no 
reason  to  doubt,  to  a  painful  death.  She  took  her  whole 
family  once  out  hunting  on  the  pack-ice.  The  pack  was 
blown  out  and  the  dogs  were  given  up  for  lost.  Some 
days  later  they  all  came  back,  having  evidently  had  a 
trying  experience,  their  faces  matted  with  blood  and  sea 
salt.  Emboldened  jjerhaps  by  this  escape,  Daisy  again 
went  hunting  on  the  pack,  taking  Roland  with  her,  and 
again  the  pack  went  out  to  sea.  Roland  returned,  but 
Daisy  never  did. 

AVhen  taken  for  a  walk  through  the  rookery,  the  dogs 
bore  themselves  with  a  most  virtuous  air,  looking  with  in- 
difference at  the  penguins  as  if  they  had  no  idea  what  they 
were  good  for.  When  detected  penguin-Avorrying,  old 
Scamp  made  for  his  kennel,  and  sat  there  pretending  he 
had  never  been  away,  looking  very  innocent,  overlooking 
the  fact  that  he  was  dripping  with  blood. 

272 


BIOLOGY 

Makine  Biology 

Towards  mid-winter  the  ice  in  a  little  bay,  bounding 
Cape  Ko3'ds  on  the  south,  was  strong  enough  to  permit  of 
dredging  at  depths  of  from  six  to  twenty  fathoms.  The 
bottom  here  was  a  fine  black  mud,  with  larger  and  small 
jjebbles  of  kenyte  in  it.  In  the  mud  were  embedded  large 
shell-fish,  the  fragile  purjile  Pecten,  the  siphon-l)earing 
Anatina,  and  others.  On  the  pebbles  were  growing  bush- 
like sponges,  and  large  sea-anemones  adhered  to  them. 
One  or  two  reddish-brown  sea-weeds  were  plentiful  and 
once  or  twice  we  brought  up  great  turnip-like  fixed  tuni- 
cates.  Ugly  and  greedy  big-headed  fishes  (Nototheia), 
and  equally  greedy  carnivorous  whelks  of  a  large  size 
{N eohuccinum)  crowded  to  any  bait  put  down. 

Among  the  sponges  and  seaweeds  were  numerous  other 
forms  of  fife,  tube-dwelling  worms  with  beautiful  flower- 
like heads  of  tentacles;  delicate  shells,  almost  invisible  to 
the  naked  eye,  many  larger  and  smaller  Crustacea,  though 
none  of  any  considerable  size;  hairy  worms  like  the  sea- 
mouse  with  a  double  row  of  phosphorescent  lamps,  flash- 
ing in  succession  from  head  to  tail.  When  captured  these 
worms  have  a  spiteful  habit  of  breaking  themselves  up 
into  small  pieces. 

In  this  region  there  is  a  prevalence  of  j^ellow  and 
orange-red  colours.  The  commonest  sponges  are  yellow; 
so  is  the  sea-anemone.  Some  of  the  corals  are  very  bright 
orange. 

INIost  of  the  Crustacea  and  many  worms,  star-fish,  &c., 
are  orange-red  or  yellow.  All  these  are  bottom  forms  of 
hfe.  With  the  available  methods  of  collecting  very  little 
was  got  in  the  open  water  of  the  sea,  away  from  the  bot- 
tom, only  a  few  small  Crustacea,  some  diatirus,  and  occa- 
sionally a  few  sea-butterflies  (Pteropods)  of  large  size 
and  red  colour. 

Vol.  U.-18  273 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

The  phosphorescence  remarked  in  some  of  the  bottom 
worms  was  also  found  in  the  copepods  of  the  open  sea. 
The  phosphorescence  is  chs^jlayed  by  cold-blooded  animals, 
living  in  a  temperature  always  some  degrees  below  the 
freezing-point  of  fresh  water,  and  it  is  shown  ecjually 
throughout  the  winter. 

Dredging  at  greater  depths  than  twenty  fathoms  was 
rarely  possible,  owing  to  the  nearness  of  open  water  in 
IMcINIurdo  Sound,  always  within  a  mile  of  the  camp. 
From  this  cause  we  did  no  deep  dredging  at  all,  only  on 
one  or  two  occasions  at  nearly  one  hundred  fathoms. 
From  the  mouth  of  the  bay  down  to  the  depth  of  one 
hundi'ed  fathoms  the  bottom  sloped  steeply.  A\'hether 
from  this  cause  or  owing  to  the  strong  current  in  the 
sound,  there  was  no  mud  in  this  zone  of  the  bottom.  In 
the  shallower  parts  there  were  large  and  small  kenyte 
pebbles,  but  at  fifty  fathoms  and  upwards  no  pebbles  were 
got.  The  bottom  appears  to  be  carpeted  with  a  dense 
growth  of  living  things,  as  if  the  dredge  merely  bit  and 
was  immediately  drawn  up  it  was  usually  full  of  stuff. 

In  this  deeper  region  the  animal  life  differed  greatly 
from  that  in  the  muddy  bay,  though  many  kinds  were 
found  throughout  both  places.  iTere  we  first  got  the  long- 
legged  sea-spiders  [Pycnogonida),  glassy  sponges,  the 
white  shells  of  Lima,  the  delicate  lace-corals,  &c.  The 
sponges  were  especially  abundant  and  in  some  variety, 
though  rarely  of  much  beauty.  One  glassy  sponge  resem- 
bled an  egg,  with  bundles  of  long  glassy  spicules  project- 
ing at  regular  intervals  from  the  smooth  surface. 

In  this  region  there  was  less  orange  and  yellow  colour- 
ing, the  tendency  being  to  white.  JNIost  of  the  glass 
sponges  and  many  of  the  horny  sponges  were  wliite  or 
pale  cream-coloured,  and  the  Lima  shells  and  lace  corals 
were  white.     There  were  still  some  yellow  sponges  and 

274 


BIOLOGY 

most  of  the  sea-spiders  were  reddish.  At  this  depth  we  got 
the  same  fish  as  in  the  bay.  A  fish-trap,  baited,  was  put 
down  at  twenty-five  fathoms.  It  caught  some  dozens  of 
pretty  large  big-heads  the  first  time  it  was  drawn,  and 
aknost  nothing  afterwards,  unless  left  for  a  considerable 
time.  This  seems  to  indicate  that  they  are  pretty  plenti- 
ful, but  that  they  grub  very  closely  among  the  sponges 
and  don't  travel  fast  or  far,  so  that  the  first  haul  exhausts 
the  region  immediately  around  the  trap.  When  the  trap 
was  brought  up  great  red  worms  hung  like  ribbons,  one 
yard,  or  even  two  yards,  below  the  trap.  These  could  con- 
tract until  they  would  lie  on  the  pahn  of  the  hand. 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS  IN  ANTARC- 
TICA BY  THE  BRITISH  AN  PARCTIC 
EXPEDITION  1907-1909 

By  Professor  T.  W.  EDGEWORTH  DAVID,  H.A..  F.R.S. 

AND 

RAYMOND  E.  PRIESTLEY,  Geologist  to  the  Expedition 

Introductory. 

T^HE  conclusions  provisionally  adopted  in  these  notes 
-■•  are  based  on  the  geological  collections  and  observa- 
tions obtained  by  the  Southern  Party,  the  \V'^estern  Party, 
and  the  Noi-thern  Party  of  our  ex])editi()n  as  well  as  by 
the  whole  party,  when  in  winter  quarters  at  Cape  Roj'ds. 

The  only  determinable  fossil  as  yet  found  in  the  great 
Beacon  sandstone  formation  of  Antarctica,  the  piece  of 
coniferous  wood,  figured  in  these  notes,  was  obtained  from 
the  collection  made  by  the  Southern  Part}'. 

As  a  result  of  the  explorations,  chiefly  by  Nordensk- 
jold,  Larsen,  (iunnar  Andersson,  Bruce,  Charcot  and 
Ar^towski,  we  now  know  the  following  about  the  portion 
of  Antarctica  south  of  America. 

In  parts  of  Graham  Land  there  must  be  a  foundation 
platform  of  gneiss  and  gneissic  granite,  as  boulders  of 
these  rocks,  several  metres  in  diameter,  are  found  deposited 
on  the  plateau  of  Seymour  Island,  to  the  east  of  Graham 
Land,  as  recorded  by  Gunnar  Andersson. 

In  1903  the  French  Antarctic  expedition,  under  the 
command  of  Dr.  Charcot,  landed  on  the  South  Shetland 

276 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

Islands,  and  after  exploring  Palmer  Archipelago  and 
Gerlache  Strait  wintered  at  Wandel  Island.  An  interest- 
ing and  detailed  account  of  the  geological  specimens  col- 
lected has  been  given  by  Dr.  E.  Gourdon.*  Amongst  the 
rocks  described  are  hornblende  granites,  quartz  diorites, 
uralitic  gabbros,  trachyandesites  with  hornblende  and 
mica,  dacites  and  andesites  with  associated  tuffs,  labra- 
dorite  rocks,  diabase  basalts,  micro-granites  with  pyroxene 
and  soda-hornblende.  He  also  describes  crystalline  schists, 
quartzites  and  quartz  veins. 

Dr.  Gourdon  concludes  that  these  rocks  are  part  of 
the  eruptive  series  of  the  chain  of  the  Andes.  Nordensk- 
jold  is  of  the  same  opinion  in  regard  to  the  eruptives  of 
Graham  Land. 

In  the  South  Orkneys  fossil  graptolites,  associated  with 
radiolarian  jaspers,  were  discovered  by  Bruce's  expedi- 
tion. These  prove  the  existence  there  of  older  palseozoic 
rocks,  considered  to  be  of  Ordovician  age.  As  far  as  we 
can  learn  there  is  as  yet  no  evidence  of  the  presence,  in 
that  region,  of  rocks  older  than  Ordovician,  unless  some 
of  the  crystalline  rocks  of  south-western  Graham  Land, 
such  as  those  of  Borchgrevink  Nunatak,  &c.,  antedate 
that  period. 

The  abundant  fossil  plants  discovered  by  Nordensk- 
jold's  expedition  at  Hope  Bay,  at  the  north-eastern  end 
of  Graham  Land,  show  that  in  that  region,  now  continu- 
ously covered  with  ice  and  snow,  there  existed  in  Jurassic 
times  a  rich  and  diversified  flora  embracing  ferns,  cycads 
and  conifers.  Amongst  the  plants  found  at  Hope  Bay 
the  genera  Sngenopteris,  Tlnnnfeldia,  Cladophlebis, 
PteroplnjUnm,  and  Otozamites  have  been  recorded  as  well 


*  Expedition  Antartique  Fran^aise,  3P03-05,  comtnandee  par  le 
Dr.  Jean  Charcot.  Sciences  Naturelles;  Documents  Scientifiques 
Geographic  Physique — Glaciologie,  Petrographie  par  E.  Gourdon, 
Docteur-es-Sciences  de  I'Universite  de  Paris. 

277 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

from  the  Trias- Jura  rocks  of  Eastern  Australia  and 
India,  some  of  the  forms  being  found  also  in  South 
Africa  and  in  the  Argentine  Republic.  The  distribution 
is  sho>\'n  on  the  following  table: 

S.  Africa  India  Argentine  Australia 

Sagenopteris  *     .       .       .       —  x                —                x 

Thinnfelclia          .        .        .         x  x                  x                  x 

Cladophlebis        .        .        .         x  x                —                x 

Plerophijllum       ...        —  x                  x                  x 

Otosamites           ...       —  x               —                x 

So  far  no  trace  has  been  found  in  this  flora  of  any 
representatives  of  the  Glossopteris  Flora  of  Gondwana 
Land,  such  as  the  Phi/llothcca  discovered  by  Gunnar 
Andersson  in  the  Falkland  Islands.  Evidently  in  Jurassic 
time  a  mild  and  a  moist  climate  prevailed  in  Antarctica. 

The  abundance  of  cretaceous  Arnmonites  collected  by 
the  Nordenskjold  expedition  at  Snow  Hill  Island,  to  the 
east  of  Graham  Land,  points  to  a  continuance  of  mild  con- 
ditions into  cretaceous  time.  The  fossil  Araucaria,  Beech, 
&:c.,  unearthed  by  the  Nordenskjold  expedition  at  Sey- 
mour Island,  adjoining  Snow  Hill  Island  on  the  north- 
east, prove  that  these  mild  conditions  were  further  pro- 
longed into  some  part  of  Tertiary  time. 

In  marine  strata,  also  of  Tertiary  age,  and  considered 
by  Wilckens  t  to  belong  to  Upper  Oligocene  or  Lower 
INIiocenc,  the  Nordenskjold  expedition  found  numerous 
bird  bones  since  referred  to  five  new  genera,  of  penguins  X 


*  This  list  has  been  kindly  supjilied  by  Mr.  W.  S.  Dun,  Paleon- 
tologist Geol.  Sur.  N.S.  AVales,  and  of  Sydney  University. 

t  Die  Meeresablagerungen  der  Kreide — und  Tertiiirablagcrungen 
in  Patagonien.     Neues  Jahr.  f.  Min.  Beilage-Band  21.  190'). 

i  These  are  stated  by  Gunnar  Andersson  to  be  Anthropornis  Nor- 
tlenskjolili,  Pachyteryx,  Espheniscus  Gunnari,  Delphinornis  Larsrnii 
and  Ichthyopteryx  gracilis,  v.  Bulletin  of  the  Geological  Institution  of 
the  University  of  Upsala.     Vol.  vii.,  1904-5,  No.  13-14,  p.  45. 

278 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

besides  two  vertebra?  of  a  big  mammal,  referred  to  the 
genus  Zeuglodon.  The  marine  fossils  associated  with 
these  remains  enabled  Wilckens  to  come  to  the  above 
decision  as  to  the  geological  age  of  the  formation. 

At  Cockburn  Island,  to  the  north  of  Seymour  Island, 
Gunnar  Andersson  describes  a  Pecten  conglomerate  160 
metres  above  sea-level.  This  marine  formation  he  con- 
siders to  be  probably  of  Pliocene  age,  and  the  equivalent 
of  the  Parana  beds  of  the  north  of  the  Argentine  Republic 
or  of  the  Cape  Fairweather  beds  of  Southern  Patagonia. 

Nordenskj  old's  expedition  proved  that  during  the 
maximum  glaciation,  in  late  Geological  time,  the  inland 
ice  rose  300  metres  higher  than  it  does  at  present,  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Borchgrevink  Xunatak,  at  the  south- 
east end  of  Graham  Land.  This  was  proved  by  the 
maximum  height  of  erratic  boulders  found  on  the  slopes 
of  the  nunatak,  above  the  present  level  of  the  surface  of 
the  inland  ice  sheet.  Gunnar  Andersson  mentions  the 
occurrence  of  raised  beaches  at  Cockburn  Island  and  also 
at  Sidney  Herbert  Sound. 

These  pieces  of  e^'idence  prove  an  emergence  of  the 
land,  since  the  maximum  glaciation,  to  the  extent  at  all 
events  of  a  few  metres,  possibly  as  much  as  forty  metres. 

In  the  portion  of  the  Antarctic  visited  by  the  German 
expedition,  1902,  under  the  leadership  of  Professor  E. 
von  Drygalski,  the  following  information  has  been 
obtained : 

In  latitude  66°  48'  South,  longitude  89°  30'  East, 
there  rises  at  the  edge  of  the  inland  ice  a  ridge-shaped 
remnant  of  a  volcanic  cone,  the  Gaussberg.  This  attains 
a  height  of  366  metres  above  the  sea,  and  is  formed  of 
leucite-basalt  tuff  and  leucite-basalt  rich  in  olivine,  lumps 
up  to  the  size  of  one's  fist  being  found  in  the  lava.  The  top 
and  slopes  of  the  Gaussberg,  as  recorded  by  Dr.  Philippi, 

279 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

are  strewn  with  erratics.*  These  are  formed  of  wliitish 
garnet-bearing  gneiss,  a  darker  biotite-gnciss,  niica-sehist, 
fragments  of  red  (juartzite,  &c.  The  crystalline  rocks  are 
considered  to  be  i)robably  of  xircha'an  age. 

In  the  Victoria  Land  region  of  the  Antarctic  the  re- 
searches of  Ross,  Borchgrevink,  and  above  all  of  Cajjtain 
R.  F.  Scott  and  the  geologist  of  the  Discover ij  expedition, 
H.  T.  Ferrar,  prove  that  there  is  developed  in  that  region 
an  ancient  comjdex  of  gneisses  and  gneissic  granites,  with 
mica-schists,  calc-schists  and  quartzitts,  and  that  these 
rocks  are  capped  for  a  great  distance  by  a  formation 
almost  horizontally  bedded,  called  by  Ferrar  the  "  Beacon 
sandstone."  A  little  argillaceous  limestone  was  observed 
bj'  him  associated  with  this  sandstone.  Ferrar  found 
plant  remains  in  the  sandstone,  but  in  such  an  altered 
condition  that  they  could  not  be  determined.  Ferrar  has 
given  a  detailed  and  very  valuable  descri])tion  of  the 
geology  of  Victoria  Land  and  Ross  Island  explored  by 
him  on  this  expedition.  The  petrology  of  the  rocks  col- 
lected has  been  worked  out  by  G.  T.  Prior.f 

Amongst  volcanic  rocks  are  comprised  hornblende- 
basalts,  olivine-basalts,  dolerites,  basalt  tufl's,  keuytes, 
phonolitic  trachytes  and  phonolites.  Amongst  the  founda- 
tion rocks  of  South  Victoria  Land,  Prior  records  crystal- 
line limestones  with  chondrodite,  gneiss,  granites,  diorites, 
camptonites,  kersantites  and  banakite.  Amongst  the 
sedimentary  rocks"  he  refers  to  sandstones,  somewhat 
carbonaceous,  as  well  as  black  shaly  to  slaty  rocks. 

The  volcanic  rocks,  as  pointed  out  by  Prior,  are  closely 
allied  in  chemical  composition  and  mineral  constitution 

*  Veroffentlicliungen  des  Instituts  fiir  Meereskunde  und  des  Geo- 
graphischen  Instituts  an  der  Universitat,  Berlin.  Heft.  5  Octr.  1903. 
Deutsche  Siidpolar-Expedition  auf  dem  Schiff  "  Gauss." 

t  National  Antarctic  Expedition,  I901-190i,  Natural  History,  Vol. 
i..  Geology.     British  Museum,   1902. 

280 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

to  the  volcanic  series  described  by  Dr.  P.  IMarshall,  from 
the  neighbourhood  of  Dunedin,  New  Zealand.  It  may 
be  noted  that  these  volcanic  rocks  are  developed  partly 
along  the  coast-line  of  Victoria  Land,  partly  in  islands 
arranged  in  lines  subparellel  to  this  coast-line. 

It  is  worthy  of  comment  that  the  volcanic  zones  of 
Victoria  Land  were  not  definitely  traced  by  ]Mr.  Shackle- 
ton  in  the  ranges  reached  by  him  m  liis  furthest  south 
journey  this  year.  No  trace  whatever  of  volcanic  rocks 
was  noticed  by  him,  either  in  situ  or  in  the  moraines  of 
the  vast  coast  range  which  bounds  the  Great  Ice  Barrier 
on  its  south-west  side,  near  the  latitude  of  84°  to  86° 
South. 

Physical  Geography 

These  observations  relate  wholty  to  the  region  between 
the  meridians  of  170^  East  and  150°  West.  The  shore- 
line in  this  region  of  the  Antarctic  continent  is  deeply 
indented  by  the  Ross  Sea.  This  commences  just  south 
of  the  parallel  of  70°,  and  extends  to  the  parallel  of  78° 
South.  Ross  Sea  is  bounded  at  its  east  side  by  dense 
belts  of  jiack-ice  and  low  snowbergs,  which  prevent  any 
view  of  the  coast-line  being  obtained  excepting  near  the 
extreme  south-east  corner  of  Ross  Sea;  there.  Captain 
Scott,  in  the  Discovery,  found  a  new  range  of  mountains 
rising  from  a  land  afterwards  known  as  King  Edward 
VII  Land.  Southwards  Ross  Sea  is  bounded  by  the 
cliff  of  the  Great  Ice  Barrier,  which  has  an  extent  of  about 
470  miles  in  an  east  and  west  direction.  This  chfF  aver- 
ages about  150  ft.  in  height.  In  places  it  sinks  to  nearly 
sea-level  in  low  gulhes.  The  surface  beyond  this  Great 
Barrier,  except  for  certain  broad  shallow  undulations  and 
small  snow  ridges  (sastrugi).  is  practically  level.  Mr. 
Shackleton,  on  his  southern  journey,  proved  that  it  ex- 
tends southward  for  at  least  350  miles.     Westwards  the 

281 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Great  Barrier  cliff  terminates  in  liigh-pressure  ridges 
against  Cape  Crozier,  the  easternmost  point  of  Ross 
Island. 

Ross  Island  with  its  towering  volcanic  cones  rises  like 
some  vast  castle  at  the  end  of  tliis  huge  white  wall.  It 
is  formed  of  four  large  volcanic  cones,  ^Mounts  Terror, 
Terra  Nova,  Erebus  and  Bird.  The  three  lirst  volcanoes 
appear  to  be  situated  on  an  east  and  west  line  of  fracture. 
Another  fracture  line  probably  passes  in  a  southerly  direc- 
tion froni  INIount  Bird  through  JMount  Erebus.  Thus, 
Erebus  may  be  said  to  be  at  the  junction  of  two  imi)ortant 
systems  of  earth  fracture.  Still  furtlier  south  several 
smaller  craters  are  situated  on  what  may  be  termed  the 
Erebus  Fracture  Zone,  including  that  of  Crater  Hill, 
near  Hut  Point,  the  winter  quarters  of  the  Discovery 
expedition.  Still  further  south  are  the  volcanic  islands. 
White  Island  and  Black  Island,  and  somewhat  to  the 
south-south-west  Mount  Discovery  with  the  long  volcanic 
promontory  trending  from  it  to  the  east-south-east,  known 
as  Minna  Bluff. 

In  the  gaps  between  these  islands  and  promontories 
the  mass  of  the  Great  Barrier  moves  slowly,  but  surely, 
seawards  towards  the  narrow  south-westerly  prolongation 
of  Ross  Sea  known  as  McMurdo  Sound.  Pressure  ridges 
of  ice  in  this  part  of  the  Great  Barrier,  as  well  as  actual 
measurements  taken,  prove  that  this  part  of  the  Barrier  is 
moving  seawards,  both  to  the  west  and  to  the  east  of  Ross 
Island. 

INIc^NIurdo  Sound  is  bounded  on  the  south  by  the  low 
terminal  cliff  of  the  Great  Barrier  only  a  few  feet  in 
height.  This  low  ice  cliff  extends  westwards  across 
INIcMurdo  Sound,  for  a  distance  of  about  thirty  miles, 
to  the  magnificent  coast  range  of  Victoria  Land.  JNIajes- 
tic  peaks  of  gneiss,  granite,  sandstone  and  limestone 
capped  by  eruptive  rocks  rise  almost  sheer  from  the  coast 

282 


PltlKSn.Y     UKSIDK    AN    EKKATH'    GrAXITE    BoULDKIt,    I.VING    ON'    KeNYTK    AT    CaPF;    KoYK 


(.Jkanitk  kkhatic  at  Cafk  Koyi) 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

to  altitudes  of  from  8000  up  to  12,000  ft.  Throughout 
its  entire  length  from  Cape  North  and  the  mountains  re- 
cently discovered  by  our  expedition  further  west,  down 
to  the  parallel  of  86^  South,  a  distance  of  about  1100 
miles,  the  ranges  form  a  slightly  elevated  border  to  an 
inland  plateau.  The  continuity  of  these  plateau  ranges 
is  interrupted  at  intervals  by  wide  valley-like  depressions, 
occupied  by  vast  glaciers.  These  glaciers  slope  steeply 
to  the  sea,  or  to  the  surface  of  the  Great  Barrier,  and  are 
heavily  crevassed.  Further  inland  they  ascend  by  gentle 
slopes,  interrujJted  occasionally  by  ice-falls,  to  the  neve 
fields  of  the  plateau. 

As  one  traces  the  coast-line  northwards,  from  opposite 
Ross  Island  in  the  direction  in  which  the  Northern  Party 
travelled  to  the  South  JNIagnetic  Pole,  one  encounters 
some  very  remarkable  features  which  materially  modify 
the  form  of  the  coast-line.  The  first  of  these  is  called  on 
the  chart  of  the  Antarctic  Ocean,  prepared  from  observa- 
tions under  the  direction  of  Captain  R.  F.  Scott,  the 
Nordenskjold  Ice  Barrier  Tongue.  It  is  about  six  miles 
in  width,  and  projects  twenty  miles  or  more  seawards 
from  the  coast-line.  There  is  reason  to  suppose  that  this 
Barrier,  as  well  as  the  one  just  to  be  described,  is  floating 
at  its  seaward  extremity. 

North  of  the  Nordenskjold  Barrier  is  the  Drygalski 
Barrier  or  Ice  Tongue.  This  is  a  huge  glacier  actively 
moving  fonvards  into  the  sea.  It  is  a  true  glacier  at  its 
landward  end,  with  immense  seracs,  ridges  and  crevasses. 
The  portion  which  projects  seawards  beyond  the  coast  is 
about  twenty  miles  in  width,  and  thirty  miles  in  length. 
Towards  its  seaward  end,  and  also  on  its  northern  side, 
where  it  receives  the  bulk  of  the  snow  drifted  by  southerly 
bhzzards,  it  partakes  rather  of  a  flat-topped  barrier  type 
than  of  the  glacier  type  with  its  characteristic  rugged 
surface, 

283 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Just  inland  to  the  north  of  the  Drygalski  Ice  Barrier 
Tongue  is  a  fme  bay,  Terra  Nova  Bay,  inland  from  which, 
near  its  northern  end,  rises  the  majestic  Mount  Nansen. 
This  is  a  Hat-topped  mountain,  obviously  caj^ped  by 
sedimentary  rocks,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  has  shed 
lumj^s  of  limestone  and  sandstone  into  the  moraines 
beneath  it. 

Still  further  north  the  beautifully  symmetrical  volcanic 
cone  of  JMount  JNIelbourne  attains  a  height  of  8.*J."37  ft. 
The  volcanic  rocks  with  which  it  is  associated  trend  sharply 
to  the  south-west,  terminating  in  the  high  rugged  cliffs 
of  Cape  Washington. 

To  the  north-east  of  JMount  Melbourne  is  the  deep 
indentation  known  as  AVood  Bay,  and  thence  the  coast 
bends  abniptly  to  the  east.  It  would  seem  indeed  as 
though  Mount  INIelbourne  is  probably  situated  on  some 
east  and  west  line  of  earth  fractures,  hke  Mounts  Terror 
and  Terra  Nova.  The  coast-line  tlien  trends  nearly  north 
again,  forming  the  west  boundary  of  Lady  Newnes  Bay. 
Then  it  trends  once  more  east  to  Cape  Jones,  an  extinct 
volcano.  Just  off"  Cape  Jones  lies  the  large  volcanic 
island,  Coulman  Island.  From  here  the  coast  again  trends 
chiefly  northerly  to  Cape  Adare.  Volcanic  rocks  are  ex- 
tensively developed  at  this  cape,  but  the  ranges  inland 
are  formed  of  older  rocks,  such  as  granite,  gneiss,  schist, 
slate,  &c.,  apparently  still  capped  by  the  "  Beacon  sand- 
stone "  formation.  The  island  known  as  Possession 
Island — also  volcanic — lies  to  the  south-south-east  of 
Cape  Adare.  This  long  cape,  where  tbe  Sottihcrn  Cross 
expedition,  inider  Borchgrevink,  wintered,  forms  the 
north-east  side  of  Robertson's  Bay.  From  this  bay  the 
coast  trends  at  first  north-westwards  for  about  120  miles 
to  Cape  North.  Near  here,  some  hills,  a  little  distance 
back  from  the  coast,  give  one  a  sti'ong  impression  of  their 
being  of  volcanic  origin,  though  it  is  possible  that  they 

284 


GEOLOGICAL   OBSERVATIONS 

are  merely  out-lying  sugar-loaf  hills,  relics  of  a  dissected 
plateau. 

It  was  clear  from  the  sight  which  we  obtained  of  the 
part  of  the  coast,  beyond  Cape  North  on  iSIarch  8,  1909, 
that  the  liills  were  high,  having  an  altitude  of  from  6000 
to  7000  ft.,  as  measured  by  sextant,  and  that  they  formed 
the  abrupt  termination  seawards  of  a  deeply  denuded  high 
plateau.  Tliis  plateau  is  undoubtedly  a  northern  pro- 
longation of  the  one  travelled  over  by  the  Northern  Party 
of  our  expedition  on  their  journey  to  the  South  ^Magnetic 
Pole.  It  is  also  certainly  continuous  with  the  plateau 
traversed  by  Captain  R.  F.  Scott  in  his  western  journey, 
in  1903,  and  it  is  proved  now  that  it  is  part  of  the  same 
plateau  to  which  Lieutenant  Shackleton  led  the  Southern 
Party,  and  over  which  they  travelled  to  an  altitude  of 
10,000  ft.  when  they  reached  their  furthest  point  88°  23' 
South. 

Throughout  the  whole  of  this  magnificent  coastal  range 
the  evidence  of  past  ice  action  is  extremely  clear.  IMost 
of  the  valleys  are  wide,  but  a  few,  like  the  Ferrar  Glacier 
Valley,  are  narrow.  But  whether  wide  or  narrow,  their 
rocky  sides  show  most  impressively  the  abrasive  work  of 
the  great  ice  plough,  indeed  the  rocky  slopes  bounding 
these  glaciers  are  almost  as  even  as  the  banks  of  a  deep 
railway  cutting.  One  is  at  once  struck  with  the  entire 
absence  of  those  re-entering  spurs  and  angles  so  character- 
istic of  river-Avorn  valleys. 

A  curious  feature,  already  mentioned  by  Ferrar,  is 
the  development  of  an  extensive  coastal  shelf,  for  at  any 
rate  about  150  miles  northwards  of  the  latitude  of  Cape 
Royds.  This  coastal  shelf  may  be  possibly  ascribed  to 
step  faulting,  but  it  is  also  possible  that  it  may  be  due 
to  an  over-riding  of  the  foothills  of  the  coast  range,  and 
a  ploughing  of  them  out  by  the  former  great  ice  sheet 
of  the  Ice  Barrier,  at  a  time  when  its  surface  was  fully 

285 


THE   HEART  OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

1000  ft.  higher  tlian  it  is  at  present,  and  when  it  spread 
northwards  into  the  Ross  Sea,  probahly  at  least  100  to 
200  miles  north  of  its  present  seaward  termination. 

As  regards  the  reason  for  the  plateau  of  Victoria 
Land  terminating  in  such  steep  mountain  slopes  east- 
wards, it  is  of  course  possible,  as  Ferrar  suggests,  that 
this  is  due  to  a  heavy  fault  or  series  of  faults  running 
parallel  to  the  shore-line.  Certainly  the  scenery,  particu- 
larly in  the  neighbourhood  of  Mount  Xansen,  and  be- 
tween that  and  Mount  JMelbourne,  suggests  a  compara- 
tively recent  change  of  base,  down  to  which  the  base 
level  forces  have  recently  been  working.  In  fact,  these 
glacier-cut  valleys  appear  to  us  to  be  distinctly  young  in 
their  origin.  The  soundings  in  Ross  Sea  off  this  coast 
have  some  interest  as  bearing  on  tliis  question,  as  also 
the  presence  of  raised  beaches  in  several  places  along  the 
coast,  and  on  Ross  Island.  McJMurdo  Sound,  from  Ross 
Island  to  the  coast  of  Victoria  Land,  is  only  thirty  miles 
wide,  and  yet  the  sea  is  nearly  500  fathoms  in  depth 
within  a  few  miles  of  the  coast.  As  evidence  of  cinist 
movements  raised  beaches  may  be  quoted.  On  Ross 
Island  the}'  were  traced  by  us  up  to  altitudes  of  160  ft., 
and  organisms  were  found  in  these  beaches  such  as  are 
found  now  living  in  the  coastal  waters,  so  that  they 
probably  indicate  an  uplift  since  the  deposition  of  these 
organisms  of  a  good  deal  more  than  160  ft.  At  the 
Ferrar  Glacier  on  the  mainland,  raised  beaches  extended 
up  to  at  least  50  ft.  above  sea-level,  and  they  reached 
apparently  to  an  altitude  of  20  to  30  ft.  on  the  coast 
south-east  of  INIount  Larsen,  200  miles  further  north.  It 
is  possible  that  the  latter  may  be  due  to  upthrust  of  the 
marine  sediments  by  glacier  ice.  These  changes  in  the 
level  of  the  shore-line  have  taken  place  in  quite  recent 
geological   time.      It   is,    of   course,    possible   that    such 

286 


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THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

changes  might   occur   witliout   being   due  to   geological 
faulting. 

The  sectional  drawing  shows  the  state  of  Ross  Sea,  and 
of  ^Ic^Murdo  Sound  during  the  niaxinmni  recent  glacia- 
tion.  It  indicates  that  the  ice  attained  a  niaxunum  tliick- 
ness  formerly  of  nearly  4000  ft.  in  parts  of  McMurdo 
Sound  from  which  it  has  now  entirely  retreated.  Since 
the  voj'age  of  Ross,  in  IS-il,  the  front  of  the  Great  Ice 
Barrier  has  retreated  southwara.s  in  JSIc^Iurdo  Sound  to 
the  extent  of  about  thirty-five  miles,  as  determined  by 
Captain  Scott.  Signs  of  waning  glaciation  are  conspicu- 
ous all  the  way  from  Blount  Nansen  to  the  furthest  south 
mountains  examined  by  the  Southern  Party  of  this  ex- 
pedition in  latitude  85°  15'  South.  For  example,  the 
sunmiit  of  ^loimt  Hope,  discovered  by  the  Southern 
Party  in  latitude  83°  33'  South,  was  strewn  with  erratics, 
at  an  altitude  of  fully  2000  ft.  above  the  general  level  of 
the  adjacent  surface  of  the  glacier  ice. 

GLACIOLOGY 

The  glacial  phenomena  of  the  region  examined  by 
us  are  due  to  the  action  either  (a)  of  Water  substance 
in  the  form  of  (1)  sea  ice,  and  ice-foot  or  shore  ice; 
(2)  glacier  ice;  (3)  barrier  snow  and  ice-fields;  (4)  inland 
ice  and  neve  fields;  (5)  icebergs;  (6)  pack-ice;  (7)  thaw 
water  forming  surface  lakes,  and  surface,  englacial  or 
subglacial  streams;  or  (b)  to  the  action  of  wind;  or  (c) 
to  that  of  seasonal  or  diurnal  changes  of  temperature. 

(a)   Action  of  Water  Substance 

(1)  Sea  Ice. — We  made  a  series  of  observations,  by 
cutting  holes  from  time  to  time  through  the  sea  ice,  to 
ascertain  its  maximum  thickness  throughout  the  area,  and 

268 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

also  its  methods  of  freezing.  The  maximum  thickness 
measured  by  us  amounted  to  about  7  ft.,  in  the  case  of 
ice  formed,  in  a  sheltered  position  at  Backdoor  Bay  near 
our  winter  quarters,  between  the  middle  of  JNlarch  and 
middle  of  September  1908.  Ice  had  formed  over  the 
same  area,  a  little  earlier  in  IMarch,  to  the  dejith  of  a  few 
inches,  but  tliis  was  cracked  up,  and  drifted  away  by  the 
blizzards.  This  thickness  of  7  ft.  of  ice  was  no  doubt 
increased  betw^een  the  middle  of  September  and  early  in 
December. 

Ferrar  states  that  the  maximum  thickness  of  sea  ice 
which  formed  during  the  year  1903  at  Hut  Point, 
]\Ic]Murdo  Sound,  was  8  ft.  5^  in.  We  observed  that 
in  i^laces  the  sea  ice  was  fractured,  through  pressure  of 
wind  and  tidal  currents,  and  the  broken  slabs  were  forced 
over  one  another  forming  pressure  ridges,  from  10  to  20 
ft.  in  height. 

It  Mas  interesting  to  note  the  effect  on  the  sea  ice 
of  a  sudden  fall  of  temperature.  The  contraction  fol- 
lowing on  such  a  fall  would  put  the  sea  ice,  especially  at 
its  surface,  into  a  high  state  of  tension,  and  from  time  to 
time  the  surface  would  crack  open  with  a  loud  rejiort. 
These  contraction  cracks  gaped  to  a  width  of  3  to  6  ft., 
and  the  sea  water  between  the  walls  of  the  crack,  of 
course,  began  to  freeze  over.  Frequently  after  ice  had 
formed  to  the  thickness  of  a  few  inches  a  rise  of  tem- 
perature would  expand  the  ice.  This  expansion  would 
tend  to  expend  itself  on  all  weak  spots,  especially  on  the 
planks  of  thin  ice  formed  between  the  walls  of  the  con- 
traction cracks.  These  would  be  buckled  into  small  over- 
folds,  until  at  last  they  became  cracked  through  excess 
of  thrusting,  and  overthrust  faults  resulted.  In  many  of 
these  cracks  this  process  was  frequently  repeated. 

Another  feature  worth  noting  in  the  sea  ice  is,  that 
owing  to  the  great  difference  between  the  temperature  of 

Vol.  n.-i9  289 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

the  sea  water  below  the  ice  and  that  of  the  air  above  it, 
as  soon  as  a  contraction  crack  opened,  tlie  sea  water 
appeared  to  be  steaming.  A  wall  of  thick  vapour  would 
rise  along  the  whole  length  of  each  crack.  To  this  the 
term  of  frost-smoke  is  sometimes  applied.  The  water 
vapour,  as  it  rose,  was  being  constantly  condensed  and 
deposited  on  the  walls  of  the  narrow  cracks,  so  that 
gradually  the  intersjjace  became  filled  with  ice,  and  not 
infrequently  a  ridge  of  soft  ice  would  be  built  up  along 
the  line  of  the  old  crack,  to  a  height  of  6  in.  or  so  above 
the  general  level  of  the  surrounding  ice.  As  the  ice  was 
often  traversed  by  a  perfect  network  of  these  cracks,  the 
resulting  ridges  gave  the  ice-surface  the  appearance  of 
Indian  paddy-fields,  with  their  dividing  "  bunds,"  or  mud 
walls. 

The  sea  ice  was  usually  separated  from  the  shore-ice, 
or  ice-foot,  by  one  or  more  well-marked  tide-cracks.  In 
]McMurdo  Sound,  near  our  \nnter  quarters,  the  tidal 
range  of  from  2  ft.  to  3  ft.  was  quite  sufficient  to  fracture 
the  ice  in  contact  with  the  land.  The  seals  took  advantage 
of  these  tide-cracks,  and  used  them  as  blow-holes. 

The  chief  geological  work  done  by  the  sea  ice,  as  far 
as  we  could  ascertain,  was  the  transport  seawards  of  wind- 
blown rock  detritus  lodged  on  the  shore-ice  and  ice-foot, 
in  the  manner  about  to  be  described. 

Ice-foot  or  Shore-ice. — On  first  arriving  on  the 
shores  of  the  Antarctic  after  the  breaking  up  of  sea  ice, 
towards  the  end  of  the  summer,  one  is  puzzled  to  account 
for  the  low  cliff,  part  snow,  part  ice,  which  almost  every- 
where fringes  the  coast  and  so  makes  landing  from  a  boat 
difficult.  This  fringe  is  seen  to  be  made  up  partly  of  ice 
at  its  base,  resembling  somewhat  the  stalagmites  of  lime- 
stone caves,  partly  of  layers  of  compressed  snow,  in 
some  cases  alternating  with  bands  of  sand  and  gravel. 
The  ice-foot  generally  rises  to  a  height  of  6  to  10  ft. 

290 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

above  sea-level.  It  is  usually  in  the  form  of  a  flat  narrow 
terrace  from  20  to  100  ft,  wide,  sometimes  in  that  of  a 
sheer  cliff,  occasionally  as  much  as  80  ft.  to  over  100  ft.  in 
height,  the  summit  of  which  ascends  inland  in  a  more  or 
less  steep  snow  slojie.  At  its  base,  in  summer,  the  ice-foot 
is  almost  invariably  undercut  by  the  sea,  and  from  the 
overhanging  roof  thus  produced  there  depend  vast 
numbers  of  beautiful  icicles.  These  icicles  have,  of  course, 
been  formed  from  the  wash  of  the  waves,  and  the  sea 
water  in  the  process  of  being  frozen  has  extruded  its 
brine,  the  salinity  of  which  is  such  that  the  solution  cannot 
freeze  at  a  temperature  above  zero  Fahr.  These  icicles  are 
generally  moist,  and  the  moisture,  in  the  form  of  con- 
centrated brine,  works  downwards,  under  the  influence 
of  gravity,  to  the  tips  of  the  icicles,  which  thus  become 
sticky.  Hence  when  a  blizzard  springs  up  and  drives 
snowflakes  against  them,  the  flakes  stick  on  chiefly  at 
the  tips  and  gradually  build  out  those  foot-like  struc- 
tures which  we  have  termed  foot-stalactites,  and  which  are 
illustrated. 

During  the  winter  of  1908  and  the  succeeding  spring 
and  summer,  we  were  able  to  see  clearly  the  mode  of 
growth  of  the  ice-foot.  After  the  sea  surface  had  been 
frozen  over  snow  carried  by  the  wind  from  the  land,  or 
from  the  surface  of  the  Great  Ice  Barrier  formed  drifts 
of  greater  or  less  thiclcness  over  the  sea  ice  close  inshore. 
These,  at  their  shoreward  end  where  the  cliffs  are  80  or 
100  ft.  in  height,  may  form  drifts  of  equal  thickness  with 
the  height  of  the  cliff.  These  drifts,  of  course,  thin  out 
seawards.  They  are  stratified  and  contain  numerous  dark 
bands  formed  of  chips  of  rock,  broken  crystals  of  felspar, 
&c.  When,  during  the  summer,  strong  blizzards  disrupt 
the  sea  ice,  large  rafts  of  ice  are  dislodged  from  near  the 
shore,  and  these  carry  away  on  their  surfaces  portions  of 
the  old  snow-drifts.     As  the  work  of  destruction  proceeds 

291 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

even  the  thick  land«'ard  portions  of  the  snow-drifts  are 
cracked  off  in  large  sHces,  and  float  seawards,  and  thus 
in  sununer  time  is  formed  that  ahnost  universal  low  cliff 
known  as  the  ice-foot.  During  heavy  weather  when  the 
sea  is  open  the  waves  wash  over  the  lower  portions  of 
the  ice-foot,  with  the  result  that  it  is  being  constantlj'^ 
bathed  in  salt  water,  which  freezes  in  successive  layers  on 
its  surface.  Thus,  when  the  temperature  is  low  the  old 
masses  of  snow-drift,  of  wliich  the  upper  part  of  the  ice- 
foot is  formed,  become  cased  over  with  ice  much  in  the 
same  way  as  snow  bergs  become  encased  as  the  result  of 
their  being  splashed  bj'  sea  spray. 

(2)  Glacier  Ice  axd  Xeve. — The  glacier  ice  of  the 
portion  of  the  Antarctic  area  examined  by  us  either 
terminates  inland  in  glaciers,  some  of  which  are  hanging 
glaciers,  and  some  piedmont  glaciers,  or  ice-slabs,  or  it 
comes  down  to  the  sea  where  it  is  broken  off  from  time 
to  time  to  form  true  icebergs,  close  to  the  shore-line;  or — - 
and  this  is  a  feature  emphasised  alreadj^  by  Mr.  H.  T. 
Ferrar- — the  ice  may  advance  for  a  considerable  distance 
from  the  shore-line  into  the  sea.  in  some  cases  from  20  to 
30  miles,  probably  far  more  in  the  case  of  the  Great  Ice 
Barrier,  and  thus  discharge  icebergs  from  its  sides  as 
well  as  its  snout.  Such  glaciers  were  described  by  Ferrar 
as  piedmonts-afloat,  and  we  propose  to  retain  this  term  for 
them. 

Glaciers. — A  good  example  of  this  type  was  to  be 
seen  a  little  over  two  miles  southerly  from  our  winter 
quarters,  just  south  of  Cape  Barne.  The  glacier  there, 
called  by  us  the  Cape  Barne  Glacier,  terminates  seawards 
in  a  cliff  about  100  ft.  in  height,  and  some  three  miles 
in  length.  It  has  its  source  in  the  neve  fields  of  the 
western  slope  of  ]Mount  Erebus.  These  are  fed,  not 
only  by  new  falling  snow,  but  also  by  large  quantities 
of  drift  snow  swept  over  by  the  south-east  bhzzards  on  to 

292 


Summer  effect  on  a  Berg;   Icicles  forming 


*  The  Barrikr  Edgf.  south  of  Hut  Point,   a>tkr  the  Sea  Ice  had  broken  awat 


o 


9 
o 

n 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

this,  the  lee  side,  of  Erebus.  The  glacier  was  consider- 
ably crevassed  at  its  seaward  extremity,  and  passed  up 
gradually,  at  a  distance  of  some  four  or  five  miles  inland, 
into  the  neve  field.  This  glacier  was  not  moving  actively, 
as  we  never  observed  any  trace  of  buckhng  or  crushing 
of  the  sea  ice,  where  it  abutted  against  the  foot  of  the 
glacier  cliff.  Plad  there  been  any  appreciable  forward 
movement  it  could  not  have  failed  to  ridge  up  or  crush  the 
opposing  sheets  of  continuous  sea  ice.  At  the  same  time 
the  crevassed  state  of  this  glacier  ice  proved  that  move- 
ment was  stUl  in  progress. 

A  glacier  of  a  Greenland  tj^pe,  also  on  a  large  scale, 
is  the  jNIount  Xansen  Glacier,  occujjying  the  wide  de- 
pression between  jSIounts  Xansen  and  Larsen.  This 
great  glacier  is  from  12  to  20  miles  m  width,  and  60  to 
70  miles  in  length.  It  is  very  heavily  crevassed,  and  its 
surface  is  extremely  irregular  towards  its  seaward  end. 
Where  the  surface  falls  steeply,  it  has  raised  immense 
pressure  ridges  in  the  sea  ice  along  the  shore,  and  bristles 
with  hummocks  and  seracs.  So  difficult  was  this  surface 
for  sledging  that  we  were  forced  to  abandon  it,  after 
attempting  to  take  our  sledge  by  way  of  this  glacier  on 
to  the  ^Magnetic  Pole  plateau. 

On  striking  the  upper  end  of  tliis  glacier,  some  60 
miles  inland,  we  found  that  there  was  still  a  little  ice 
present  here  and  there  underneath  the  wide  neve  field. 
This  neve  field  spread  out  into  a  wide  plain,  and  for  a 
considerable  distance  before  reaching  the  ^lagnetic  Pole, 
the  latter  being  over  220  miles  inland  at  right  angles  to 
the  coast-line — our  horizon  on  all  sides  was  bounded  by 
these  same  vast  neve  fields.  It  is  ob\nous  that  the  3Iount 
Xansen  Glacier  is  moving  steadily  seawards,  as  shown 
by  the  great  pressure  ridges  which  it  has  raised  in  the 
sea  ice  opposing  its  advance.  It  must,  therefore,  still 
form  an  outlet  for  the  neve-formed  ice  of  the  inland 
plateau. 

293 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

The  interesting  question  here  suggests  itself,  Is  there 
sufficient  snowfall  annually,  on  the  area  of  the  neve  fields 
drained  bj-  this  glacier,  to  compensate  for  the  ice  which 
is  lost  by  ablation,  or  by  being  discharged  as  icebergs  into 
the  sea^  Until  more  data  are  available  no  accurate 
quantitative  answer  can  be  given  to  this  (juestion.  At 
the  same  time  it  ma}^  be  remarked  that  there  is  a  tolerably 
heavy  snowfall  along  this  part  of  the  coast,  and  for  a 
distance  of  at  least  50  miles  inland.  Portions  of  the 
high  plateau,  at  a  greater  distance  inland  from  tlie  shore 
than  50  miles  at  present  probably  receive  only  a  very 
small  snow  supph'.  It  maj'  be  doubted  whether  the 
surface  of  this  neve  field  far  inland  is  not  on  the  whole 
being  reduced  in  level  through  the  snow  being  drifted  off 
it  by  the  wind,  or  removed  by  the  slow  process  of  ablation. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  front  of  the  termination 
of  the  ]\Iount  Nansen  (ilacier  there  is  an  immense  old 
moraine  of  the  nature  apparently  of  a  medial  moraine. 
We  could  trace  this  for  fully  23  miles  in  advance  of  the 
present  glacier  snout.  It  follows  that  in  comparatively 
recent  geological  time  the  IMount  Nansen  Glacier  has  re- 
treated by  at  least  the  amount  quoted  above. 

Piedmont  Glaciers  on  Land. — A  curious  feature 
observed  along  the  greater  part  of  the  coast-line  of 
Victoria  Land,  from  near  INIount  Discovery  up  to  the 
Drygalski  Ice  Barrier  Tongue,  is  the  development,  on  the 
great  coastal  shelf,  at  an  altitude  of  about  1000  ft.  above 
sea-level,  of  a  massive  covering  of  blue  glacier  ice.  This, 
in  some  cases,  reaches  the  sea  and  breaks  off  to  form  bergs. 
In  other  cases  the  sheets  do  not  reach  the  sea,  and,  there- 
fore, are  probably  on  the  wane.  For  the  latter  Ferrar 
suggests  the  appropriate  name  of  ice-slabs. 

Several  theories  might  be  advanced  to  account  for 
them.  They  may  represent  actual  relics  of  the  old  Barrier 
ice  sheet,  wliich  once  filled  McMurdo  Sound  and  Ross 

294 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

Sea  for  probably  fully  100  miles  north  of  Ross  Island. 
Another  view  is  that  they  may  be  local  developments  of 
ice  resulting  from  a  coalescing  of  a  number  of  small  neve 
fields  developed  m  the  cu-ques  among  the  foot-hills  of  the 
plateau  ranges.  These  foot-hills  are  frequently  as  much 
as  10  to  20  miles  back  from  the  edge  of  the  coast-line. 

Piedmont  Glacieks  Afloat. — Three  well-marked  ex- 
amples of  this  type  of  glacier  came  under  our  notice. 
The  first  was  Glacier  Tongue,  between  our  winter  quarters 
and  the  old  winter  quarters  of  the  Discovery  at  Hut 
Point.  Glacier  Tongue,  as  shown  on  the  Admiralty 
Charts  and  the  Reports  of  the  Discovery  expedition,  is 
an  elongated  mass  of  ice  stretching  from  the  shore-line 
into  the  sea  for  a  distance  of  about  five  miles.  It  has  a 
width  of  about  half  a  mile  near  its  seaward  end,  and 
about  a  mile  where  it  rests  against  the  land.  Both  on 
its  north  and  south  side  the  Tongue  is  deeply  indented 
"Rith  a  number  of  bays.  Its  height  above  sea-level  varies 
from  about  40  ft.  up  to  nearly  100  ft.  While  the  Nimrod 
was  lying  alongside  this  remarkable  piedmont  in  February 
1908,  Captain  England  took  soundings  at  about  a  mile 
east  of  its  seaward  end,  and  got  a  depth  of  157  fathoms. 
As  the  maximum  height  of  the  glacier  above  sea-level 
does  not  here  exceed  about  40  ft.,  and  tlie  sea  is  940  ft. 
deep,  if  tlie  ice  were  aground  it  would  have  only  one 
twenty-third  of  its  volume  above  water,  which  of 
course  is  physically  impossible.  We  must,  therefore, 
conclude  that  this  part  of  Glacier  Tongue  is  afloat. 
At  the  same  time  it  should  be  mentioned  that 
alongside  of  this  glacier  there  are  traces  of  cracks,  wliich 
some  observers  have  considered  to  be  tide-cracks.  There 
mav  be  true  tide-cracks  near  the  shoreward  end  of  the 
glacier,  but  we  were  not  satisfied  that  the  cracks  noticed 
near  its  seaward  end  were  really  of  the  nature  of  tide- 
cracks.     While  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  the  Southern 

295 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Party,  the  Nhnrod  lay  in  a  snug  natural  dock,  formed 
by  one  of  the  bays  on  the  north  side  of  this  glacier  tongue, 
at  about  a  mile  from  its  seaward  end.  We  carefully 
watched  for  any  evidence  of  rise  and  fall  of  the  tide  in 
relation  to  the  shore-line  of  the  glacier,  but  were  unable 
to  observe  any.  We  concluded  from  this  circumstance 
that  the  glacier  must  be  rising  and  falHng  in  unison  with 
the  tide.  The  sounding-tube  of  our  Lucas  sounding-ma- 
chine brought  up  a  quantity  of  serpulcc  and  sponge 
spicules  fi-om  the  sea  bottom  beneath  the  edge  of  the 
glacier  where  our  ship  was  moored. 

The  second  piedmont-afloat  is  the  Nordenskjold  Ice 
Barrier  Tongue.  This  Ice  Barrier  Tongue  is  about  20 
miles  m  length,  and  5  to  G  miles  in  width.  Its  southern 
edge  is  formed  of  ice  and  polished  neve.  Fierce  blizzards 
have  swept  any  loose  snow  off  tliis  southern  edge  of  the 
Barrier.  The  northern  edge  was  formed  largely  of 
snow,  being  chiefly  of  the  nature  of  snow-drift,  from  40 
to  50  ft.  in  thickness.  The  latter  terminates  in  a  vertical 
cliff  with  overhanging  snow  cornices.  Obviously  this 
cliff  was  the  combined  result  of  the  blizzard  winds  driving 
snow  northwards  to  the  lee  side  of  this  iiiedmont-afloat, 
and  to  the  breaking  away  in  summer  time  of  the  sea  ice 
supporting  the  northernmost  portions  of  this  snow-drift. 
SUces  are  thus  removed  from  time  to  time  from  the 
northern  edges  of  the  drifts,  and  so  the  cliff  of  the  portion 
left  behind  becomes  higher  in  proportion  as  the  thicker 
ends  of  the  wedges  of  snow-drift  become  broken  away. 
Certainly  no  true  tide-crack  was  visible  on  tlie  south  side 
of  this  Barrier,  and  only  a  small  crack  was  seen  on  its 
north  side.  Strange  to  say,  this  big  mass  of  ice  and 
consolidated  snow,  Avhich  rises  at  its  centre  a  little  over 
100  ft.  above  sea-level,  does  not  appear  to  communicate 
directly  with  a  neve  field  at  its  inland  end.  Apparently 
then  the   Nordenskjold   Ice   Barrier   is   not  now  being 

296 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

directly  fed  from  the  inland  neve  fields.  It  appears  to 
represent  an  old  piedmont-afloat,  which  is  in  the  act  of 
dwindling  away  from  want  of  supplies  of  ice  from  the 
interior. 

Tliirdly,  the  Drygalski  Ice  Barrier  Tongue  is  also 
of  the  nature  of  a  piedmont-afloat.  It  is  probably 
floating  for  at  least  three-quarters  of  the  distance  of 
30  miles  to  which  it  projects  from  the  shore  into 
the  sea.  The  surface  of  this  glacier,  where  it  leaves 
the  shore-line,  is  extremely  rough  and  rugged,  being 
traversed,  as  stated  in  the  narrative,  by  an  immense 
number  of  chasms,  pressure  ridges  and  crevasses.  On 
the  south  side,  where  the  ice  was  still  unbroken  when  we 
reached  the  glacier  on  November  30,  1908,  the  old  sea 
ice  was  forced  up  into  strong  j^ressure  ridges.  The  whole 
appearance  suggested  to  us  that  this  glacier  is  moving 
actively  from  inland  seawards.  We  could  see  with  our 
field-glasses  that  at  a  distance  of  about  50  miles  inland 
it  descended  by  steep  ice-falls  from  a  high  plateau  beyond. 
At  the  point  where  we  crossed  it,  the  glacier  rose  to  an 
altitude  at  its  centre  of  about  200  ft.  above  sea-level. 
It  was  here  12  miles  in  width.  Further  eastwards  and 
therefore  seawards,  the  glacier  ice  was  more  and  more 
levelled  up  with  snow,  until  eventually  it  passed  into  a 
true  barrier  type  with  a  comparatively  smooth  surface. 

Captain  Evans,  after  he  brought  the  Nimrod  into 
"  Relief  Inlet,"  where  he  picked  up  the  Northern  Party 
just  returned  from  the  Magnetic  Pole,  sounded  alongside 
of  the  Drygalski  Glacier  and  found  a  depth  of  655  to  668 
fathoms,  at  a  distance  of  only  about  18  miles  from  the 
rocky  shore-line. 

As  the  Barrier  here  rises  to  a  height  not  exceeding 
50  ft.  above  sea-level  it  must  surely  be  afloat. 

During  the  few  weeks  of  thaw,  in  December  and 
January,  torrents  of  water  must  rush  off  from  this  glacier 

297 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

in  the  form  of  englacial  or  subglacial  streams.  These 
in  some  cases  cut  deep  open  valleys  with  more  or  less 
precipitous  sides;  in  other  cases  they  tunnel  channels  for 
themselves  under  the  covering  of  hard  snow  and  ice,  and 
the  roofs  of  these  tunnels  collapsing  through  want  of 
support  produce  rugged  ravines,  very  difficult  to  cross 
with  sledges. 

This  Drj'galski  Ice  Barrier,  on  its  northern  side,  con- 
tained in  places  a  considerable  amount  of  moraine  material. 
It  was  evident  that  at  the  time  when  the  glaciation  of 
this  region  was  at  its  maximum  it  must  have  been  con- 
tinuous with  the  INIount  Xansen  glacier.  These  two 
glaciers,  when  united,  doubtless  formed  a  huge  piedmont- 
afloat. 

(3)  Barrier  Snow-  and  Ice-fields, — The  structure 
of  the  Xordenskjold  and  Drygalski  Barriers  throws  con- 
siderable light  on  one  of  the  most  difficult  problems  of  the 
Antarctic — the  origin  of  the  Great  Ice  Barrier.  To 
ascertain  the  amount  of  annual  snowfall  on  this  Great 
Barrier  is  of  very  great  importance,  but  we  found  tliis  a 
hard  problem,  chiefly  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  dis- 
tinguishing between  true  newly  fallen  snow  and  old  snow 
which  has  been  drifted  along  by  blizzards.  We  tried, 
during  our  observations  in  Antarctica,  to  eliminate  the 
drift  snow  from  the  true  snowfall,  and  our  general  con- 
clusion now  is,  that  at  Cape  Royds  the  annual  snowfall  is 
equal  to  about  9 3^  in.  of  rain.  On  the  journey  of  the 
southern  depot  party  under  Joyce,  when  laying  a 
depot  for  the  relief  of  the  returning  Southern  Party  in 
January-  1909,  the  fortunate  discoverj'^  was  made  of  Cap- 
tain Scott's  old  Depot  A.  The  sharp  eyes  of  Day 
discerned,  at  a  distance  of  several  miles,  the  top  of  the 
depot  bamboo  pole  with  just  a  \dsp  of  the  old  black  flag 
still  attached  to  it.  Knowing  the  importance,  from  a 
scientific  point  of  \'iew  of  estimating  the  extent  and  direc- 

298 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

tion  of  movement  of  this  depot,  in  the  six  years  four 
months  and  a  half  that  had  elapsed  since  Captain 
Scott  left  it  there,  the  party  ^^sited  it  and  ]Mackin- 
tosh  took  a  series  of  angles  and  measurements,  which 
enabled  him  to  determine  that  the  dej^ot  had  moved 
bodily  to  the  east-north-east  at  the  rate  of  a  httle  over 
500  yards  a  year  for  the  past  six  years  and  six  months. 
The  party  also  dug  down  through  the  hard  snow  to  a 
depth  of  8  ft.  2  in.  when  they  came  upon  the  original 
snow-surface  on  which  the  depot  was  formed.  They  were 
thus  able  to  show  that,  during  the  above  period,  October  1, 
1902,  to  February  15,  1909,  on  the  average  about  13  in. 
per  year  of  hard  snow  had  accumulated.  In  order  to 
determine  the  density  of  this  snow  they  melted  down  a 
considerable  quantity  of  it,  and  measured  the  volume  of 
the  thaw-water  resulting.  This  showed  that  the  annual 
accumulation  of  snow  on  this  part  of  the  Great  Ice  Barrier 
is  equal  to  about  73^  in.  of  rain. 

Tills  depot  is  in  the  latitude  of  Minna  Bluff,  about 
78"  iO'  South.  Further  north,  as,  for  example,  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  ^Mount  Xansen,  the  snowfall  appeared 
to  be  considerably  heavier,  and  it  seemed  to  be  heavier 
still  nearer  to  the  Antarctic  Circle.  As  7/^  in.  of  rain  is 
equal  to  73^2  ft.  of  snow  it  is  obvious  that  the  accumulation 
of  snow,  even  as  far  south  as  between  latitude  78  "^  and 
79°  is  not  inconsiderable,  but  on  account  of  its  great 
density  this  compressed  snow,  near  ]Minna  Bluff,  formed 
a  layer  annually  13)^2  in.  thick,  instead  of  7j/2  ft.  thick. 

For  the  sake  of  simplicity  it  may  be  assumed  that  the 
rate  of  accumulation  over  the  Great  Barrier  generally 
is  about  1  ft.  annually.  Xow  it  has  been  proved  that  the 
Great  Barrier  extends  inland  for  fully  300  miles  in  places. 
From  the  observations  at  INIinna  Bluff,  and  the  rate  of 
movement  of  Captain  Scott's  Depot  A,  as  measured  by 
Captain  Scott  and  again  by  Joyce,  it  may  be  inferred 

299 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

that  the  Great  Barrier  there  is  travelhng  seawards  at  the 
rate  of  about  one-third  of  a  mile  per  year.  From  tliis  it 
may  be  argued  that  a  snowfall  on  any  part  of  the  Barrier 
300  miles  inland  woukl  take  900  years  to  reach  the  edge 
of  the  Great  Ice  Barrier,  where  bergs  are  discharged  into 
the  sea.  At  tliis  rate,  if  1  ft.  of  snow  is  added  to  the 
Barrier  every  year  a  layer  of  snow,  formed  300  miles 
inland,  900  years  ago,  if  it  reaches  the  Great  Barrier  cliffs 
at  the  present  day  will  be  covered  by  a  thickness  of  900  ft. 
of  snow.  Obviously  this  theory  gives  a  vast  thickness  of 
snow  to  form  the  seaward  end  of  the  Great  Barrier. 
Theoretically  then  as  the  result  of  the  calculations  from 
the  observations  of  the  southern  depot  party,  it  might 
be  argued  that  a  considerable  thickness  of  the  berg 
material  derived  from  the  Great  Ice  Barrier  was  formed 
of  consolidated  snow  and  neve  rather  than  of  true  glacier 
ice.  Practical  proof  of  tliis  was  afforded  us  by  another 
series  of  observations.  At  the  end  of  the  breaking  up  of 
the  sea  ice  in  the  summer  of  1907-8,  three  bergs  drifted 
into  JMciSlurdo  Sound,  and  grounded  between  our  winter 
quarters  and  Cape  Barne.  During  the  following  winter 
the  sea  was  frozen  over  around  these  bergs,  and  we  were 
able  to  go  over  to  them  and  study  them.  Fortunately 
they  were  much  tunnelled  by  sea-worn  caves.  This  en- 
abled us  to  see  their  internal  structure.  We  found  that 
all  around  the  edge,  particularly  along  the  line  of  the 
wave-worn  groove  which  surrounds  all  bergs,  a  good  deal 
of  ice  was  developed.  This  ice  resulted  evidently  from 
the  freezing  of  sea  water  as  the  waves  washed  and  dashed 
against  the  foot  of  the  berg  cliff.  In  heavy  weather  a 
large  quantity  of  spray  would  be  flung  high  up  against 
the  cliff  faces  of  the  berg,  and  the  spray  freezing  would 
encrust  the  exterior  of  the  berg  with  ice.  There  was  no 
evidence,  however,  of  the  existence  of  any  solid  ice  inside 

300 


GEOLOGICAL   OBSERVATIONS 

the   berg,   this   portion   of   it   being   formed   purely   of 
compressed  snow. 

From  tliis  fact  we  were  led  to  speculate  as  to  whether 
the  whole  of  the  berg  might  not  be  formed  of  hard  snow, 
its  submerged  portion  saturated,  but  only  superficially, 
with  sea  water.  That  this  was  actually  the  case  was  proved 
later  by  Captain  F.  P.  Evans.  He  saw  in  these  bergs 
an  excellent  shelter  for  his  ship  from  the  bhzzards,  and 
moored  the  Xiynrod  to  one  of  the  larger  bergs.  While 
here  he  took  soundings  ai'ound  the  most  typical  of  these 
tabular  bergs,  and  found  that  whereas  its  cliff  face  rose 
to  a  height  of  80  ft.  above  sea-level,  the  berg  was  aground 
in  only  thirteen  fathoms  of  water;  that  is,  the  berg  was 
submerged  to  a  depth  of  78  ft.,  so  that  practically  half 
of  it  was  out  of  the  water  and  half  immersed.  This  direct 
observation  is  obviously  of  great  importance  as  bearing 
on  the  mode  of  origin  and  structure  of  the  so-called  ice- 
bergs of  the  Antarctic.  There  can,  we  think,  now  be  little 
doubt  that  a  great  proportion,  in  some  cases  the  whole, 
of  the  material  of  typical  Antarctic  bergs  is  formed  of 
consolidated  snow  rather  than  ice.  These  observations 
may  now  be  considered  in  their  bearing  on  the  origin  of 
the  Great  Ice  Barrier.  Captain  Scott  has  shown  that 
the  Great  Ice  Barrier  for  the  greater  part  of  its  length, 
probably  for  400  miles  at  least  along  its  edge,  is  afloat. 
Wherever  we  got  near  to  the  chiF  face  of  the  Barrier, 
and  we  were  at  times  very  close  to  it,  we  were  unable  to 
see  anything  of  the  nature  of  true  glacier  ice,  even  in 
eases  Avhere  the  chfF  rose  to  a  height  of  over  150  ft.  above 
sea-level.  On  the  other  hand,  there  was  every  appearance 
of  the  Barrier  being  formed  of  numbers  of  superimposed 
layers  of  snow.  On  the  line  of  argument  previously  given 
it  is  not  improbable  that  a  thickness  of  900  ft.  of  snow, 
or  thereabouts,  may  accumulate  on  a  large  proportion  of 
the  Barrier  near  its  terminal  cliff,  so  that  obviously,  a 

301 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

great  part  of  the  thickness  of  the  Great  Ice  Barrier  is 
probably  due  to  this  compressed  snow. 

The  question  still  remains,  as  to  what  becomes  of  the 
glacier  ice  which  undoubtedly  does  feed  the  Barrier  at 
many  spots  along  its  western  and  southern  boundaries. 
For  example,  the  great  glacier,  50  miles  wide,  up  which 
the  Southern  Party  travelled  from  the  spot  where  they 
were  compelled  to  diverge  from  the  Barrier,  latitude  83° 
South,  must  be  discharging  vast  quantities  of  ice  into 
the  Barrier.  This  same  glacier  had  raised  ])ressure 
ridges  on  the  Barrier  surface  for  20  miles  out  from  its 
junction  with  the  Barrier.  It  is  clear,  too,  from  the  fact 
established  both  by  the  Discovery  expedition  and  our  own, 
that  the  Great  Ice  Barrier  is  moving  seawards.  The 
propelling  force  can  be  no  other  than  that  of  glacier  ice. 
This  glacier  ice  descending  from  the  inland  plateau  must 
also  move  seawards,  but  as  it  gets  nearer  to  the  Great 
Barrier  ice  cliff  it  becomes  weighted  down  with  a  vast 
thickness  of  superincumbent  snow,  and  it  is  quite  possible 
that  under  these  conditions  a  great  deal  of  it  may  be 
thawed  off  from  below  by  the  sea  water. 

The  question  here  suggests  itself,  does  the  water  circu- 
lating beneath  the  Great  Ice  Barrier  ever  have  a  tem- 
perature high  enough  to  thaw  fresh  water  ice?  It  does, 
of  course,  thaw  the  sea  ice  quite  rapidly. 

(4)  Inland  Ice  and  Neve  Fields. — Reference  has 
already  been  made  to  this  type  of  ice  under  the  head  of 
"  Glaciers,"  in  the  description  of  the  IMount  Nansen 
Glacier.  The  great  glacier  discovered  by  the  Southern 
Party  between  83°  33'  South  and  85°  South,  over  100 
miles  in  length  and  50  miles  in  wdth  descended  about 
6000  ft.  in  that  distance  from  a  vast  inland  snow  plateau. 
This  plateau  is  identical  with  that  traversed  by  Captain 
Scott's  party  of  the  Discovery  expedition,  on  their  western 
journey  in  1903.     It  is  identical  also  with  the  plateau 

302 


/"'.^ 


t 


I 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

travelled  by  the  Xorthern  Party  of  our  expedition  in  their 
journey  inland  to  the  South  ^Magnetic  Pole,  as  well  as 
with  the  new  land  discovered  by  our  expedition  to  the 
west  of  Cape  North.  This  vast  plateau  extending,  it  is 
practically  certain,  for  over  1200  miles  from  north  to 
south,  and  over  200  miles  from  east  to  west,  7000  ft.  high  at 
its  northern  end,  and  at  least  10,000  ft.  at  its  southern,  is 
formed  superficially  of  neve.  Doubtless  beneath  the 
neve  is  glacier  ice.  The  neve  is  possibly  of  no  very  great 
thickness,  for  the  horizontally  bedded  or  gently  inchned 
plateau  rocks  of  the  Beacon  sandstone  formation  rise  to 
heights  of  8000  to  10,000  ft.  above  sea-level  along  the 
eastern  border  of  the  plateau. 

This  structure  of  the  plateau  is  illustrated  on  the 
diagram  (p. 306). 

(5)  Icebergs  have  already  been  described  under  the 
heading  "  Barrier  Snow-  and  Ice-fields." 

( 6 )  Pack  ice  has  also  been  referred  to  under  the  head- 
ing "  Sea  Ice."  It  may  be  noted  that  in  the  Ross  Sea 
the  bulk  of  the  pack  ice,  formed  chiefly  of  fractured 
masses  of  sea  ice,  partly  of  small  snowbergs  and  icebergs, 
impelled  by  the  south-easterly  winds  drifts  past  Cape 
Adare  to  the  part  of  the  Antarctic  Ocean  which  hes 
between  Cape  North  and  the  Balleny  Islands.  This  region 
appears  to  be  permanently  beset  Mith  very  old  pack  ice 
and  icebergs.  As  most  of  the  blocks  of  sea  ice  have 
been  twisted  and  piled  on  one  another,  this  pack  may 
be  described  as  "  screwed  pack." 

(7)  Thaw- WATER  forming  Surface  Lakes,  and 
Surface,  Englaciai,  or  Subglacial  Streams. — Some 
of  the  streams  formed  by  thaw-water  have  already  been 
described  under  the  head  of  glaciers,  in  the  case  of  the 
Drygalski  Glacier.  In  the  latitude  of  this  glacier  in  75° 
South,  the  thaw  set  in  about  December  10  and  lasted  to 
about  the  third  week  in  January. 

303 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Lakes  and  Lake  Ice. — We  found  it  difficult  during 
tlie  short  period  of  our  stay  in  the  ^Viitarctic  to  ascertain 
to  what  thickness  this  ice  formed  during  a  single  season. 
The  dirticulty  arose  from  the  fact  tliat  in  the  summer  of 
1908-1909  the  fresh  water  ice  of  these  lakes  did  not 
entirely  thaw. 

Some  of  the  lakes  were  slightly  saline,  and  some  of 
these,  such  as  Green  Lake  and  Coast  Lake,  thawed  com- 
pletely during  the  summer  and  during  the  winter  the  ice 
froze  over  them  from  top  to  bottom  until,  in  the  case  of 
Green  Lake,  in  August  1908,  only  a  very  little  saline 
water,  a  few  inches  in  depth,  remained  unfrozen,  below 
a  thickness  of  5  ft.  of  ice.  At  the  same  time  of  year  the 
water  of  "  Coast  Lake,"  also  somewhat  saline,  was  frozen 
solid,  the  lake  being  a  little  under  5  ft.  deep. 

In  the  case  of  the  fresh-water  lake,  known  as  Clear 
Lake,  it  was  noticed  that  during  the  summer  the  ice  thawed 
chiefly  on  the  south  side  of  the  lake,  Mhcre  it  was  in 
contact  with  the  black  rock,  and  where  that  rock  was 
specially  warmed  by  the  sun's  rays.  The  sun  being 
highest  when  it  is  due  north,  has  its  greatest  heating 
effect  on  southern  slopes.  The  ice  towards  the  middle  and 
north  side  of  the  lake  did  not  wholly  thaw.  The  same 
remark  is  true  of  the  ice  of  the  Blue  Lake  near  our  winter 
quarters. 

In  the  case  of  the  Blue  Lake  we  found,  as  the  result 
of  the  shafts  sunk,  that  in  the  south-west  division  of  this 
lake  the  ice  was  at  least  15  ft.  in  thickness,  w-liile  in 
the  north-western  division  Brocklehurst  sunk  a  shaft 
to  21  ft.,  but  in  his  case  a  httle  water  was  found  be- 
neath the  ice,  whereas  in  the  first  case  the  ice  was  soUd 
doMTi  to  the  bed  rock.  We  are  of  opinion  that  this  Blue 
Lake  ice  had  not  been  thawed  for  probably  at  least  three 
seasons. 

As  many  of  these  small  lakes  were  encircled  by  steep 

304 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

banks  of  hard  rock,  the  ice,  expanding  as  it  formed,  was 
forced  to  curve  itself  upwards  in  order  to  make  room  for 
itself,  as  it  could  not  burst  the  sides  of  the  rock  basin. 
Thus  its  surface  was  frequently  convex  upwards.  In  this 
process  of  upward  bulging  of  the  ice  towards  the  lake's 
centre  each  successive  fresh  layer  of  ice  as  it  froze  beneath 
the  older  and  overlying  layers,  would  buckle  them  and 
bend  them.  The  latter  would  at  last  crack  open,  and  so 
in  the  final  stage  of  freezing  of  a  small  shallow  lake,  by 
the  time  that  the  whole  of  the  water  had  frozen  from  top 
to  bottom,  the  basin  would  be  occupied  by  a  biconvex 
cracked  lens  of  ice,  the  cracks  being  widest  at  the  top  and 
tajDering  away  to  nothing  below. 

A  curious  feature  which  we  observed  in  the  lake  ice 
was  the  presence  of  what  we  termed  "  snow  tabloids." 
We  found  that  in  some  cases  these  were  merely  empty 
bubble-like  spaces  in  the  ice  filled  with  air.  In  other 
cases,  however,  where  the  bubbles  were  larger,  3  to  6  in. 
in  width,  they  were  occupied  by  snow.  In  some  cases 
patches  of  thin  rippled  snow  were  inter-stratified  in  this 
lake  ice. 

JNIost  of  this  fresh-water  lake  ice  exhibited  at  its  sur- 
face a  very  beautiful  structure,  which  we  termed  coralloidal 
structure. 

The  mode  of  origin  of  this  curious  structure  will  be 
discussed  in  the  Scientific  ]Memoirs  of  this  Expedition. 

(b)  Action  of  ^Vixd  ix  Eelatiox  to  Antarctic 

GlACLU.  PHENO:ME>rA 

An  explanation  has  already  been  given  of  how  vast 
quantities  of  finely  divided  rock  material,  chiefly  in  the 
form  of  sand,  are  constantly  being  blown  on  to  the  sea  ice 
by  the  wind.  For  some  distance  seawards  from  the  shore 
such   wind-blown   material   must    form    an    appreciable 

Vol.  n.— 20  305 


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m 


GEOLOGICAL   OBSERVATIONS 

amount  of  the  sediments  now  forming  on  the  sea  floor. 
Ferrar  has  ah-eady  commented  on  the  great  importance 
of  the  wind  m  these  regions  as  a  destructive  agent. 

By  accelerating  evaporation  of  snow  and  ice,  and  by 
its  mechanical  erosive  force  on  the  surfaces  of  snow-fields, 
the  blizzards  are  important  contributors  to  the  present 
deglaciation  of  Antarctica.  The  amount  of  snow  annually 
blown  out  to  sea  must  be  very  great,  inasmuch  as  during 
blizzards,  often  of  several  days  duration,  the  air  is  fre- 
quently so  thick  with  fine  particles  of  snow  that  one  cannot 
see  more  than  a  few  yards  in  front  of  one.  We  observed 
that  sledge  tracks  and  footprints  on  the  snows  of  the 
coastal  areas,  or  of  the  inland  plateau,  were  nearly  always, 
after  the  expiry  of  a  few  weeks,  left  in  relief.  This 
suggests  that,  at  j^resent,  in  many  parts  of  Antarctica  the 
general  surface  of  the  snow  and  ice  is  being  continually 
lowered  by  ablation  and  wind  drift. 

(c)   Changes  of  Teinipekatuke 

During  spring  and  autumn  when  sunrise  and  sunset 
replace  the  perpetual  sunlight  of  summer,  and  the  per- 
petual darkness  of  \Ainter,  the  range  of  temperature 
between  noon  and  midnight  is  most  marked.  On  INIarch 
10,  1908,  when  at  an  altitude  of  about  9000  ft.,  on  Mount 
Erebus,  and  with  the  thermometer  at  about  10°  Fahr., 
we  observed  that  snow  in  contact  with  black  lumps  of 
kenyte  lava  exposed  to  the  sun's  rays  thawed  rapidl}',  so 
that  we  w^ere  able  to  get  water  to  drink  by  laying  a  lump 
of  snow  in  saucer-shaped  hollows  on  the  surface  of  this 
lava.  At  night  these  same  rocks  became  very  cold.  There 
was  no  question  here  of  the  survival  of  any  original  vol- 
canic heat  in  the  lava,  as  there  was  no  thaw  whatever  of 
the  snow  where  it  touched  the  lava  in  spots  shaded  from 
the  sun's  heat.     This  absorjition  of  heat  by  black  rocks 

307 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

partly  explains  the  survival  of  lichens  high  up  on  the 
slopes  of  Erebus.  It  also  has  the  effect  of  prolonging 
a  superficial  local  thaw  from  summer  far  into  spring,  on 
the  one  hand,  and  autunui  on  the  other.  Such  a  great 
diurnal  range  of  temperature,  combined  with  the  effects 
of  summer  thaw  followed  by  the  severe  frosts  of  winter, 
exei-ts  a  powerful  disrupting  force  upon  the  rocks,  and 
accounts  for  the  extensive  rubble  banks  and  sheets  and 
patches  of  loose  and  broken  felspar  crj'stals,  which  are 
spread  over  such  a  large  area  of  country  near  INIount 
Erebus,  &:c.  At  our  winter  quarters  at  Cape  Royds  we  at 
first  mistook  these  for  beds  of  volcanic  tuff. 

Volcanic  Rocks 

Ross  Island. — As  the  chief  varieties  of  volcanic  rocks 
met  with  in  Ross  Island  have  already  been  described  by 
JNIessrs.  Ferrar  and  Prior,  a  brief  description  of  these  vill 
suffice. 

At  Ross  Island  we  particularly  studied  the  relations 
to  one  another  of  the  three  princij^al  types  of  rock  there 
developed,  viz.,  kenyte,  trachji;e  and  basalt.  We  are  now 
in  a  position  to  say  that,  on  the  whole,  the  trachytes  appear 
to  have  been  the  oldest  rocks,  the  kenytes  to  be  of  inter- 
mediate age,  and  the  basalts  the  newest.  The  evidence  for 
this  is  as  follows: 

On  the  western  slopes  of  IMount  Erebus,  above  our 
winter  quarters,  specimens  were  not  infrequentlj^  found 
of  Avhat  at  first  sight  appeared  to  be  fragments  of  sand- 
stone enclosed  in  ken}i:e  lava.  A  closer  inspection  of  these 
showed  that  they  were  in  reality  varieties  of  trachyte. 
Similar  specimens  were  met  with  in  the  kenytes  near  Cape 
Barne.  It  would  seem  from  this  that  the  oldest  lavas  in 
this  area  were  trachji:es,  and  that  later  kenj^te  eruptions 
followed,  which  partly  destroyed  the  trach\i;es,  and  thus 

308 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

the  disrupted  tracli}i;e  fragments  subsequently  became 
embedded  in  the  kenyte  lava.  In  the  next  place  we  found 
that  at  Cape  Barne  the  kenyte  had  been  very  powerfully 
intruded  by  the  basalt.  Large  fragments  of  kenj'te  were 
frequently  found  entangled  in  the  basalt  of  the  compara- 
tively recent  volcanic  cone  at  Cape  Barne,  and  on  a  hne 
trending  inland  in  a  south-easterlv  direction.  In  the  case 
also  of  the  long  spur  wliich  extends  from  INIount  Erebus 
to  the  old  winter  quarters  of  the  Discovery  expedition  at 
Hut  Point  it  is  clear  that  the  latest  volcanic  products  of 
that  locahty  are  scoriaceous  basalts.  These  basalts  are 
ob\-iously  newer  than  the  trachytes  of  Observation  Hill; 
they  are  even  newer  than  the  oli\ine  basalts  of  Sulphur 
Hill  in  the  same  area.  In  our  ascent  of  Erebus  we  found 
that  not  only  were  there  old  kenj'te  lavas  developed  on  its 
flanks,  but  that  at  intervals  on  the  way  up  the  rock  was 
still  kenyte,  becoming  of  newer  and  neAver  age  until  the 
modern  active  crater  was  reached.  Tliis  crater  was  partly 
filled  with  molten  lava  from  June  to  September  1908. 
It  is  evident  from  this  that  some  of  the  kenyte  is  amongst 
the  newest  of  all  the  volcanic  products  of  Ross  Island. 
The  following  table  shows  the  probable  chronological  rela- 
tions of  these  lavas  in  descending  order: 

Kenji;e  of  modern  crater.  Scoriaceous  basalt. 

Olivine  basalt. 
Pre-basaltic  kemi;e.  Trach\i;e. 

East  Coast  of  Victoria  Land. — The  succession, 
therefore.,  on  the  whole  has  been  from  trachyte  through 
kenji:e  to  ohvine-basalt.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
whole  of  the  traclniie  eruptions,  the  pre-basaltic  ken\i:e, 
and  the  olivine  basalts  antedate  the  epoch  of  greatest 
recent  glaciation. 

The  occurrence  of  large  blocks  of  kemi:e  at  Gneiss 

309 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Point,  a  few  miles  to  the  east-south-east  of  Granite  Har- 
bour, suggests  the  possibihty  that  some  of  the  dark  sheets 
of  rock  near  the  highest  jjortions  of  the  plateau  may  per- 
haps be  formed  m  part  of  kenyte.  At  tlie  same  time  it  is 
possible  that  these  kenyte  boulders  of  Gneiss  Point  have 
been  drifted  northwai'ds  from  Ross  Island  amongst  the 
moraine  material  of  the  Avestern  branch  of  the  former 
gigantic  Great  Ice  Barrier,  when  it  occupied  the  whole  of 
JMcMurdo  Sound.  Dykes  of  dark  rocks,  resembling  tin- 
guaites,  were  not  uncommon  from  Granite  Harbour 
northwards  to  near  Geikie  Inlet,  south  of  the  Drygalski 
Glacier.  We  also  observed  dyke  rocks  full  of  small  black 
bright  23rismatic  ciystals  of  hornblende.  These  appear 
to  be  of  the  nature  of  hornblende  lamprophyres.  Small 
pieces  of  scoriaceous  volcanic  rocks  were  found  by  us  as 
far  north  as  Cape  Irizar.  These  fragments  may  have 
come  from  the  mountains  of  the  western  plateau. 

Foundation  Rocks 

The  oldest  rocks  seen  by  us  in  the  Antarctic  belong  to 
the  series  already  described  bj^  Ferrar  and  Prior,  and 
consist  of  banded  gneiss,  gneissic  granite  grano-diorite 
and  diorite  rich  in  sphene.  In  some  spots,  as  at  Cape 
Bernacchi,  masses  of  very  coarse  white  crystalline  marble 
are  interspersed  in  the  gneiss. 

These  foiuidation  rocks  have  their  planes  of  foliation 
sharply  folded  in  places,  as  is  the  case  at  Depot  Island, 
the  axis  of  folding  there  being  approximately  ])arallel  to 
the  trend  of  the  coast-line.  Near  the  same  spot  huge 
enclosures  can  be  seen  in  the  gnessic-granite.  These  are 
partlj'  greenish  grey  quartzites  in  masses  ten  to  twenty 
feet  in  diameter,  partly  large  lumps  of  blackish  green 
coarseh'  crystalline  hornblende  rock,  with  much  sphene 
and  a  white  mineral,  appai'ently  either  saussuritised  fel- 

310 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

spar,  or  scapolite.  In  other  places,  as  at  Cape  Bernacchi, 
black  tourmaline  schists  with  epidote  were  frequently 
interspersed  through  the  gneiss,  and  the  gneiss  was  also 
traversed  by  veins  of  white  aplite,  with  small  crystals  of 
garnet.  The  coarsely  crystalline  belt  of  marble  in  the 
gneiss  at  Cape  Bernacchi  contained  abundant  graphite  in 
the  form  of  small  flakes.  It  appears  to  us  that  the  marble 
and  the  quartzite  represent  an  old  sedimentary  formation, 
and  the  large  enclosures  of  hornblende-and-sphene  rock 
an  old  amphibolite  or  gabbro,  both  the  former  and  the 
latter  types  of  rock  disrupted  by  the  intrusive  gneissic 
granites. 

Ferrar  was  of  opinion  that  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
hill  marked  (d)  on  his  map  showing  the  valley  of  the 
Ferrar  Glacier,  the  grey  granite  of  these  hills  is  older  than 
the  dolerite  which  rests  upon  its  even  upper  surface,  but 
that  the  pink  granite  of  (d)  is  intrusive  and  later  than 
the  dolerite.*  This  is  an  important  observation.  We  did 
not  see  this  spot,  but  in  other  areas,  as  near  Granite 
Harbour,  the  dolerite  appeared  to  be  newer  than  the 
granites. 

Older  (?)  Paleozoic  Sedimentary  Rocks 

Apart  from  the  large  enclosures  of  quartzites,  &c.,  in 
gneissic  granite,  already  referred  to,  the  next  oldest 
sedimentary  rocks  appear  to  be  greenish  grey  slates 
brought  back  by  the  Southern  Party  from  the  surface  of 
the  great  glacier  up  which  they  were  travelling  between 
JNIount  Hope  and  "  The  Cloudmaker,"  in  approximately 
latitude  84°  South.  These  fragments,  as  Lieutenant 
Shackleton  informs  us,  w^ere  blown  on  to  the  surface  of  the 
ice  from  what  appeared  to  be  mountains  of  slate  further 
west.     The  approximate  relative  position  of  these  slate 

*Nat.  Ant.  Exped.  Nat.  Hist.,  Vol.  i..  Geology,  p.  38.  Brit.  Museum. 

311 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

hills  and  of  the  granite  hill  of  JMount  Hope,  and  the 
nunatak  of  coal-bearing  Beacon  sandstone  further  south 
is  shown  in  the  jihotograph. 

At  Cape  Royds  we  found  occasionally,  but  sparingly, 
erratics  of  radiolarian  chert.  The  radiolaria  appear  to  be 
of  older  palseozoic  type,  but  we  were  unable  to  discover 
an}"  rock  like  it  in  situ.  Obviously  at  Cape  Ro3"ds  the 
erratics  have  travelled  from  some  spot  to  the  south  and 
west.  It  is  possible  that  these  black  and  grey  cherts 
belong  to  the  limestone  series  discovered  by  the  Southern 
Party  in  85°  15'  South.  This  limestone  varies  in  colour 
from  pink  to  dark  grey.  The  pink  limestone  is  banded 
with  some  dull  green  earthy  mineral ;  it  contains  numerous 
obscure  casts  resembling  those  of  radiolaria.  The  dark 
bluish  grey  portion  of  this  limestone  does  not  show  any 
trace  of  organisms.  Apparently  it  has  been  too  much 
metamorphosed  to  retain  the  outlines  of  any  of  its  original 
fossils.  It  is  traversed  in  all  directions  bj^  veins  of  white 
calcite.  The  limestones  appear  to  be  almost  horizontally 
bedded,  and  are  several  hundreds  of  feet  in  thickness. 
The  Southern  Party  were  unable  to  determine  the  relation 
of  this  massive  limestone  to  the  adjacent  Beacon  sand- 
stone, as  unfortunately  there  was  a  break  in  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  section  which  prevented  the  junction  of 
these  two  formations  being  seen.  This  limestone,  7000 
ft.  above  sea-level,  is  higher  geographically  than  the 
Beacon  sandstone  formation,  but  as  the  latter  dips  away 
from  it  towards  the  north-east,  the  limestone  may  be 
strati  graphically  below  the  Beacon  sandstone.  The 
Southern  Party  discovered  large  blocks  of  limestone 
breccia  in  the  moraines  near  "  The  Cloudmaker."  The 
fragments  in  the  morainic  breccias  near  this  mountain  are 
formed  of  limestones,  not  unlike  those  of  the  great  nuna- 
tak, but  whether  these  breccias  belong  to  the  basal  beds  of 
the  Beacon  sandstone  formation,  or  to  the  base  of  the 

312 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

massive  limestones,  or  to  crush  breccia  zones  in  the  mas- 
sive hmestones  is  not  as  yet  ajiparent.  It  is  even  possible 
that  they  may  be  stratigrajihicall}'  above  the  Beacon 
sandstone,  but  this  is  improbable.  Fragments  of  old 
limestones  were  observed  by  us  in  the  ancient  moraines 
of  the  ]Mount  Xansen  Glacier.  These  were  associated 
with  pieces  of  sandstone  and  fragments  of  grey  clay  shale 
with  obscure  impressions  of  fossU  roots.  This  limestone 
appears  to  have  been  derived  from  the  Beacon  sandstone 
formation.  It  is  very  much  altered  through  recrystallisa- 
tion,  and  we  have  been  unable  to  recognise  in  it  any  fossils. 

It  may  be  mentioned  that  when  journeying  to  the 
South  [Magnetic  Pole  at  a  spot  about  twenty  miles  south- 
east of  Granite  Harbour  we  found  on  a  small  island, 
Terrace  Island,  a  large  fragment  of  argillaceous  lime- 
stone. This  had  evidentlj'  been  derived  from  the  Beacon 
sandstone  formation  in  the  adjacent  hills.  When  broken 
open  it  was  found  to  contain  small  oval  bodies,  pointed 
at  one  end,  and  about  one-tliird  of  an  inch  in  length 
resembling  seeds  of  fossil  plants,  possibly  coniferous  seeds. 

This  specimen  was  subsequently  left  at  "  Depot 
Island,"  and  has  not  since  been  recovered. 

The  Beacon  sandstone  formation  has  now  been  proved 
to  extend  from  at  least  as  far  as  [Mount  Xansen  in  the 
north  to  latitude  85°  South,  where  it  was  explored  in  situ 
by  the  Southern  Party,  a  distance  of  fully  seven  hundred 
miles.  As  described  by  Ferrar  its  thickness  in  the  Ferrar 
Glacier  Valley  amounts  to  fully  two  thousand  feet,  and 
even  then  the  base  of  the  formation  was  not  seen. 

The  following  is  a  generalised  section  of  the  Beacon 
sandstone  formation  in  85"  South,  in  descending  order, 
from  information  supplied  by  Mr.  Shackleton  and  F. 
Wild  of  the  Southern  party: 

500  ft.  sandstone. 

313 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

300  ft.  sandstone  with  bands  of  shale,  and  about 
seven  seams  of  coal,  or  seams  formed  of  black  shale 
alternating  with  laminse  of  bright  coal.  In  tliis  belt  the 
following  seams  were  seen  in  situ: 

1  ft.  to  lYz  ft.  coal  seam. 

Strata. 
7  ft.  coal  seam  with  bands  of  grey  shale. 

Strata. 
5  ft.  coal  seam  apparently  formed  of  clean  coal. 

Strata. 
3  ft.    (about)  coal  seam. 

Strata. 
3  ft.   (about)  coal  seam. 

Strata. 
3  ft.   (about)  coal  seam. 

Strata. 
3  ft.    (about)  coal  seam. 

Seven-hundred-foot  sandstones  with  numerous  water- 
worn  quartz  pebbles  in  the  lower  beds.  These  pebbles 
are  from  one  to  two  inches  in  diameter.    Total  1500  ft. 

In  the  medial  moraine,  below  the  great  nunatak  in  85° 
South,  the  Southern  Party  obtained,  amongst  several 
specimens  of  sandstone  Avith  much  mother-of-coal,  or 
mineral  charcoal,  one  specimen  of  special  interest.  It  was 
a  fragment  of  fine  grained  hard  sandstone,  evidently  de- 
rived from  the  Beacon  sandstone  formation  higher  up, 
showing  a  black  band  one-quarter  of  an  inch  thick  run- 
ning through  it.  INIicro-slides  of  this  examined  at  the 
University  prove  that  it  is  a  coniferous  wood.  The  fol- 
lowing description  of  it  has  been  written  by  INIr.  E.  J. 
Goddard,  B.Sc,  ]\Iacleay  Research  Fellow  of  the  Lin- 
nsean  Society,  New  South  Wales: 


314 


GEOLOGICAL    OBSERVATIONS 

Specimens  from  Medial  ]\Ioeaixe,  December  11,  1908 

(Xo.   101) 

"  Longitudinal  sections  of  the  included  dark  masses 
give  a  homogeneous  banded  ai^pearance  of  a  distinctly 
organic  nature.  The  banded  ajipearance  is  due  to  the 
vascular  nature  of  the  organic  elements  composing  the 
mass.  The  whole  structure  recalls  to  one's  mind  the 
appearance  given  by  longitudinal  sections  of  the  xylem 
jjortion  of  the  vascular  area  of  a  gymnosperm,  such  as 
Phnis.  Only  the  xylem  area  is  represented  in  the  speci- 
men, no  traces  of  medullary,  cortical,  or  phloem  tissue 
being  visible.  ^ledullary  rays  are  present  as  shown  in 
the  micro-photograph. 

"  The  xylem  itself  is  composed  of  a  homogeneous  mass 
of  vessels,  tracheidal  in  nature,  no  differentiation  as  re- 
gards the  vascular  elements  being  present.  In  places  one 
may  readily  make  out  in  longitudinal  sections  dark  opaque 
bands  of  much  greater  size  individually  than  the  tracheides. 
These  in  aU  probability  represent  resin  passages  belong- 
ing to  the  xylem.  It  would  seem,  further,  that  these 
masses  might  be  considered  as  being  nothing  more  than 
an  aggregation  of  material  similar  in  nature  to  that  of 
the  walls,  and  due  to  changes  under  the  process  of  petri- 
faction. This,  however,  is  opposed  by  the  fact  that  they 
occur  even  in  these  small  sections  fairly  commonly,  and 
at  the  same  time  are  all  of  exactly  the  same  size  as  regards 
width.  At  all  events  they  represent  some  definite  struc- 
ture, and  in  all  probability  resin  passages. 

"  The  walls  of  the  tracheids  themselves  seen  under 
the  high  power  of  the  microscope  appear  to  be  pitted, 
but  the  preservation  is  by  no  means  good  enough  to  war- 
rant any  remarks  on  this  beyond  that  in  the  common 
wall  of  adjacent  tracheides  occur  clear  spaces  of  the  same 
relative    importance    as    the    bordered    pits    of    such    a 

315 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

g}'mnosperm  as  Pinus.  These  clear  spaces  occur  regularly 
along  the  length  of  the  tracheides,  and  stand  out  strongly 
against  the  dark  colour  of  the  walls  in  their  preserved 
condition. 

"  The  nature  of  the  xylem  itself  leads  to  the  con- 
clusion that  it  is  a  portion  of  a  gyninospermous  plant, 
resembling  strongly  in  nature  the  same  portion  of  a 
coniferous  plant." 

If  the  conclusion  as  to  the  coniferous  character  of  the 
wood  is  correct,  and  there  seems  little  reason  to  doubt  its 
correctness,  the  lower  limit  of  the  age  of  the  Beacon 
sandstone  is  perhaps  lower  carboniferous  or  Upper 
Devonian,  unless  conifers  in  the  Antarctic  had  a  deeper 
range  in  geological  time  than  elsewhere. 

The  plate  shows  the  general  appearance  under  the 
microscope  of  this  fossil  wood.  The  medullary  rays  are 
fairly  distinct. 

This  is  the  fii'st  determinable  fossil  j^lant  that  has 
been  obtained  from  the  Victoria  Land  portion  of  the 
Ajntarctic. 

Although  a  date  not  older  than  carboniferous  or 
Devonian  is  suggested  by  the  presence  of  this  coniferous 
wood,  it  is  of  course  possible  that  the  Beacon  sandstone 
is  of  higher  geological  antiquity,  and  if  the  radiolarian 
rocks,  already  referred  to,  are  conformable  witli  the 
Beacon  sandstone,  it  may  even  go  far  do\Mi  into  the  older 
palaeozoic. 

The  degree  of  induration  of  these  unfolded  plateau 
sandstones  and  the  general  absence  of  fossils  from  the 
limestones  is  suggestive  of  a  high  geological  antiquity. 

Raised  Beaches 

Raised  beaches  were  observed  at  two  distinct  localities 
on  the  western  slojies  of  Ross  Island,  also  near  the  mouth 

316 


Fossil  Wood  ix  Saxdstoxe,  from  a  Moraixe  ix  Latitude 
*  S5°  South 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

of  the  Ferrar  Glacier,  as  well  as  to  the  south-east  of 
Mount  Larsen. 

The  first  locaUty  on  Ross  Island  was  discovered  by 
Armytage;  the  second  locality  by  one  of  us;  the  raised 
beaches  near  the  Ferrar  Glacier  also  by  one  of  us;  while 
the  Mount  Larsen  raised  beaches  were  observed  by  the 
Northern  Party  on  their  journey  to  the  South  JNIagnetic 
Pole.     These  four  localities  may  be  referred  to  as: 

(1)  Back  Door  Bay  deposit. 

(2)  Cape  Barne  deposit. 

(3)  Ferrar  Glacier  dej^osit. 

(4)  jMount  Larsen  deposit. 

Deposit  (1)  lies  at  a  height  of  160  ft.  above  sea-level. 
It  was  found  at  the  bottom  of  a  shallow  flat-bottomed 
gulley  sloping  down  eastwards  into  a  small  arm  of 
McJNIurdo's  Sound,  called  by  us  Back  Door  Bay.  The 
area  of  the  deposit  was  only  a  few  square  yards.  It  con- 
sisted of  a  brownish  earthy  material  with  abundant  remains 
of  crushed  tubes  of  serpulge.  Diatoms  were  fairly  abun- 
dant in  it.  We  were  at  first  in  some  doubt  as  to  whether 
this  serpula  deposit  was  a  genuine  raised  beach,  or  merely 
a  mass  of  sandy  material  from  the  sea  floor  pushed  up  by 
the  ploughing  action  of  the  old  McJMurdo  Sound  ice  sheet. 
There  has,  of  course,  been  a  similar  question  raised  in  re- 
gard to  the  so-called  raised  beaches  of  Moel  Tiyfaen  in 
North  Wales.  The  subsequent  discovery  by  one  of  us  of 
an  extensive  raised  beach  at  an  altitude  of  about  180  ft. 
near  Cape  Barne  (deposit  2)  is  confirmatory  evidence 
as  to  the  genuine  raised  beach  character  of  the  first- 
mentioned  deposit.  At  this  Cape  Barne  deposit  the  mate- 
rial is  largely  formed  of  spicules  of  siliceous  sponges  and 
molluscan  shells,  as  well  as  the  remains  of  serjjute.  The 
nature  of  the  organisms  there  present  is  such  as  to  render 

317 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

it  probable  that  the  deposit  was  formed  in  water  of  some 
depth.  It  may  therefore  indicate  an  elevation  of  this 
jjart  of  the  coast  near  Cape  Barne,  not  merely  of  180  ft., 
but  perhaps  of  double  that  amount. 

Deposit  (3)  near  the  entrance  of  the  Ferrar  Glacier 
Valley.  These  deposits  chief!}'  consist  of  brownish  sands 
with  veiy  numerous  shells  of  a  large  species  of  pectens. 
They  were  discovered  by  one  of  us,  and  traced  to 
altitudes  of  from  50  to  60  ft.  Further  north  at  Cape 
Bernacchi  there  are  strongly  marked  terraces  suggestive 
of  raised  beaches,  which  were  observed  by  the  Northern 
Party  to  extend  up  to  altitudes  of  100  ft.  At  Terrace 
Island,  about  twenty  miles  to  the  north  of  Cape  Bernacchi 
we  observed  Mell-marked  terraces,  ranging  up  to  about 
80  to  85  ft.  above  sea-level.  These  had  every  appearance 
of  having  been  laid  down  by  the  action  of  the  sea,  though 
no  sea-shells  were  found  amongst  the  sands  and  coarse 
gravel  constituting  this  deposit. 

Deposit  (4)  south-east  of  Mount  Larsen.  A  very 
curious  type  of  what  may  be  termed  a  raised  beach  or 
possiblj-^  an  uptlu-ust  area,  was  obsei'ved  by  us  on  our 
journey  from  the  sea  ice  near  the  Drygalski  Glacier  to  the 
foot  of  the  small  branch  glacier  at  what  we  called  Back- 
stairs Passage.  This  moraine  deposit  consisted  of  greenish 
grey  muds  underlying  coarse  moraines  of  granite  blocks 
and  quartz  and  felspar  porphyry.  Beneath  the  grey  muds 
was  ice;  the  ice  was  just  very  shghtly  saline  in  places. 
These  muds  contained  remains  of  serpulfe  in  great 
quantity,  an  enormous  number  of  shells  of  that  well- 
known  arctic  type  amongst  the  foraminifera,  BilocuUna, 
numerous  representatives  of  horny  polyzoa,  siliceous 
sponges,  and  a  perfect  form  of  solitary  coral  allied  to  a 
perfect  shell  of  lyothyrina,  &c.,  dentalium,  chiton,  &c. 

The  height  of  this  deposit  above  sea-level  could  not  be 

318 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

definitely  ascertained  by  us.     It  was  at  least  20  ft.,  pos- 
sibly as  much  as  30  ft.,  above  the  sea. 

The  evidence  generally  of  these  raised  beaches  is  very 
interesting,  as  showing  the  probability  that  when  the  ice, 
in  recent  geological  time,  had  its  maximum  extension  in 
tliis  region,  there  was  probably  a  subsidence,  possibly  due 
to  the  load,  on  tliis  part  of  the  earth's  crust,  of  such  a  vast 
extra  thickness  of  ice,  and  that  after  the  subsidence,  which 
probably  lagged  behind  the  epoch  of  maximum  glaciation, 
there  has  been  a  gradual  re-emergence  to  the  amount  of 
150  to  200  ft.  The  bracliiopod  and  polyzoon  in  the 
raised  marine  mud  from  the  Larsen  area  have  kindly  been 
identified  for  us  by  Mr.  C.  Hedley  and  Mr.  E.  F.  Hallman 
respectively,  of  the  Australian  JSIuseum. 

Peat  Deposits 

Amongst  formations  of  recent  origin  may  be  men- 
tioned peat.  A  deposit  of  peat  was  discovered  by  one 
of  us  formed  on  the  bottom  of  the  lake  called  Coast  Lake. 

This  peat  is  formed  from  the  remains  of  a  large 
fungoid  plant,  which  grows  in  profusion  in  the  water  of 
these  coastal  lakes  \\'hcn  the  ice  thaws  in  midsummer. 

A  deposit  of  mirabilite  was  discovered  by  one 
of  us  at  the  spot  shown  on  the  map  near  Cape 
Bame,  after  the  summer  thaw  had  set  in.  The 
white  colour  of  the  salt  during  winter  rendered  it  in- 
distinguishable from  the  surrounding  snow,  but  after 
the  thaw  the  difference  of  course  was  noticeable  between 
this  white  salt  and  the  edges  of  the  dark  volcanic  rock. 

Apparently  tliis  mirabilite  forms  one  of  the  products 
of  evaporation  of  an  old  lake.  Numbers  of  these  dried 
lake  basins  were  noticed  by  us  amongst  the  glacial 
moraines  on  these  western  slopes  of  Erebus  near  Cape 
Barne  and  our  winter  quarters. 

319 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 


In  regard  to  the  important  theoretical  question  as  to 
whether  the  west  coast  of  Victoria  Land  is  of  an  iVtlantic 
or  of  a  Pacific  tj-pe,  the  following  considerations  ji resent 
themselves. 

Feet  Inches 


Layers    of    Ice    sepa- 
raied  from  one  another 


Ice  stroiiBly  fibrous 
and  prismatic  with  nu- 
nieious  vertical  bubble 
holes.  The  bottom  ice 
(or  6  Id.  in  depth  Is 
yellow. 


Pcnty  fungus  and  ice 
mixed. 


Altern.-itln;;  lamina;  of 
fungus- pc3t  and  ice  pass- 
int;  downwards  iuto  4  in. 
ut  gritty  pe^t. 


Pebbles  of  kenyte 
lava  and  fungus  ce- 
mented by  Ice. 


As  pointed  out  by  H.  T.  Ferrar,  the  massive  Beacon 
sandstone  formation  terminates  in  steep,  and  in  places 
precipitous,  slopes  along  the  whole  line  of  coast  from 
beyond  Cape  North  southerly  to  ]\Iount  Discovery.  From 
there  to  where  JMr.  Shackleton  and  liis  Southern  Party, 

320 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

after  ascending  the  granite  and  slate  mountains  of  this 
coastal  range  in  latitude  83°  33',  longitude  170°  East, 
reached  85°  South  at  an  altitude  of  6000  ft.  sedimentary 
rocks  were  found  to  cap  the  ranges.  They  were  disposed 
in  gently  dipping  or  nearly  horizontal  strata,  and  extended 
south-easterly  to  at  least  86°  South. 

At  the  Great  Nunatak  in  latitude  85°  South,  longitude 
165°  East,  the  sandstone  beds  containing  the  seven  seams 
of  coal  dip  in  a  north-easterly  direction  at  an  angle  of 
about  6°  to  8°.  There  was  no  evidence  there,  nor  as  far 
nortliAvards  as  our  exjjlorations  extended,  that  is,  to 
Mount  Xansen,  of  any  folding  in  the  Beacon  sandstone 
formation. 

At  Depot  Island,  to  the  north  of  Granite  Harbour, 
the  ancient  gneiss  platform  is  there  folded  parallel  with 
the  coast-line,  but  this  structure  appeared  to  be  the 
excejjtion  rather  than  the  rule. 

The  Beacon  sandstone,  for  reasons  already  given,  is 
perhaps  as  old  as  paleozoic,  possibly  older  palfEozoic.  So, 
if  the  above  conclusions  are  correct,  there  has  been  no 
appreciable  folding  in  the  part  of  Victoria  Land  examined 
by  us  since  palaeozoic  time. 

The  coast-line  is,  therefore,  in  our  opinion,  of  the 
Atlantic  rather  than  of  the  Pacific  type,  and  probably 
owes  its  trend  and  jjosition  to  a  powerful  fault  or  zone 
of  faults,  with  a  down-throw  to  the  east.  The  volcanoes 
]\Iount  INIelbourne,  JSIount  Erebus,  Mount  Discovery, 
&:c.,  are  probably  on  this  fracture,  or  zone  of  fractures. 
If  this  view  as  to  the  Atlantic  type  of  this  part  of  the 
coast  is  correct,  what  has  become  of  the  great  Andean 
folds  developed  on  the  west  side  of  Graham  Land? 

Possibly  as  Wilckens  has  suggested,  west  of  Alexander 
I  Land  the  Cordillera  is  submerged  through  faulting.* 


*  Centralblatt  fiir  Min.  Geol.  und  Pal.,  1906,  No.  6,  p.  179. 
Vol.  II.-21  321 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

In  this  case  the  Ross  Sea  subsidence  area  (if  such  it 
be)  would  have  approximately  the  same  relation  to  the 
Andean  trend-lines  in  the  Antarctic  that  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  and  the  Antillean  and  West  Indian  fracture  zones 
bear  to  the  trend-lines  of  the  tropical  Andes.  It  must, 
nevertheless,  be  admitted  that  the  Great  South  Polar 
Shield  of  ancient  and  practicallj^  incompressible  crystalline 
rock,  intensely  folded  in  the  past,  would  be  incapable  of 
being  further  folded  now,  and  if  the  Andean  zone  of 
disturbance  traversed  this  shield  it  would  be  likely  to 
traverse  it  as  a  zone  of  fractures  with  local  lava  effusions, 
rather  than  as  a  fold  range  of  the  Pacific  type.  This 
important  matter  will  be  discussed  by  us  in  detail  in  the 
Geological  Memoir  of  tliis  Expedition. 

Summary. — The  following  inferences  are  tentatively 
suggested  in  regard  to  the  geology  of  Antarctica: 

(1)  The  majority  of  the  tabular  bergs  of  this  region 
are  largely,  in  some  cases  wholly,  snowbergs,  not  icebergs. 

(2)  Tioie  icebergs  are  also  found. 

(3)  Glaciers  in  the  Antarctic  push  out  in  some  cases 
thirty  miles  from  the  coast,  and  must  be  afloat,  as  argued 
by  Ferrar,  for  the  greater  part  of  this  length. 

(4)  The  Great  Ice  Barrier  is  formed  of  true  glacier 
ice  at  its  sides  and  inland  extremity,  but  the  centre  and 
seaward  portion  is  formed,  in  its  upper  part,  chiefly  of 
snow.  We  agree  with  Captain  Scott's  conclusions  that 
the  Great  Barrier  except  at  its  edges  and  perhaps  at  some 
distance  inland  must  be  afloat.  At  its  eastern  side  it  has 
been  moving  seawards  at  the  average  rate  of  about  five 
hundred  yards  a  year  for  the  past  seven  years. 

(.5)  Throughout  the  whole  of  the  region  of  Antarctica 
examined  by  us,  for  16°  of  latitude,  there  is  evidence  of 
a  recent  great  diminution  in  the  glaciation.  In  McMurdo 
Sound  this  arm  of  the  sea  now  free  from  land  ice  was 

322 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

formerly  filled  by  a  branch  of  the  Great  Ice  Barrier, 
whose  surface  rose  fully  1000  ft.  above  sea-level,  and  the 
Barrier  ice  in  this  sound,  in  areas  from  which  the  ice  has 
retreated,  was  formerly  about  4000  ft.  in  thickness. 

(6)  The  snowfall  at  Cape  Royds  from  February  1908 
to  February  1909  was  equal  to  about  9^  in.  of  rain. 

(7)  The  neve-fields  of  Antarctica  are  probably  of  no 
great  thickness. 

(8)  The  southern  and  western  sides  of  the  sector  of 
Antarctica  south  of  Australia  is  a  plateau  from  7000 
to  10,000  ft.  high,  which  may  possibly  extend  across  the 
South  Pole  to  Coat's  Land  and  Graham  Land. 

(9)  Ross  Sea  is  probably  a  great  subsidence  area. 

(10)  The  Beacon  sandstone  formation  which  extends 
for  at  least  1100  miles  from  north  to  south  in  Antarctica 
contains  coniferous  wood  associated  with  coal  seams.  It 
is  probably  of  palaeozoic  age. 

(11)  Limestones,  pisolitic  in  places,  in  85°  15'  South, 
and  7000  ft,  above  sea-level  contaon  obscure  casts  of 
radiolaria. 

Radiolaria,  in  a  fair  state  of  preservation,  occur  in 
black  cherts  amongst  the  erratics  at  Cape  Royds.  They 
appear  to  belong  to  the  same  formation  as  the  limestone. 
These  radiolaria  appear  to  be  of  older  paleozoic  age. 

(12)  The  succession  of  lavas  at  Erebus  appears  to 
have  been  first  trachytes,  then  kenytes,  then  olivine  basalts. 
Erebus  is,  however,  still  erupting  kenyte. 

(13)  Peat  deposits,  formed  of  fungus,  are  now  form- 
ing on  the  bottoms  of  some  of  the  Antarctic  glacial  lakes 
near  77°  and  78°  South. 

(14)  Raised  beaches  of  recent  origin  extend  at  Ross 
Island  to  a  height  of  at  least  160  ft.  above  sea-level. 


323 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARTIC 
NOTES  IN  REGARD  TO  MOUNT  EREBUS 

By  Professor  T.  W.  EDGEWORTH  DAVID 

and  raymond  priestley 

Volcanic  Eruptions 

We  observed  that  the  eruptions  of  Erebus,  hke  those 
of  Stromboli,  were  most  frequent  during  a  low  barometer. 
The  following  is  a  description  of  the  chief  eruption  of 
Erebus  witnessed  by  us  on  June  1-i,  1908: 

This  morning,  about  8.4^5  a.m.,  as  the  small  blizzard 
of  the  preceding  night  was  subsiding  we  noticed  that 
Erebus  was  more  than  usually  active;  the  steam  cloud 
over  its  summit  was  broader  and  taller  than  usual;  and 
there  were  frequent  outbursts  of  steam. 

At  11.30  A.M.  it  was  noticed  that  an  eruption  of 
altogether  unprecedented  vigour,  as  far  as  our  experience 
of  Erebus  went,  was  in  progress.  Immense  masses  of 
steam  rushed  u])wards  to  at  least  2000  ft.  above  the  sum- 
mit in  about  half  a  minute,  and  spread  out  to  form  a 
vast  mushroom-shaped  cloud.  This  rapidly  became  asym- 
metrical; while  the  main  steam  column  was  bent  over 
to  the  left  (northerly)  by  the  return  air  current  from  the 
Pole,  the  higher  ascending  portion,  at  about  2.500  to  3000 
ft.  was  carried  by  the  upper  current  in  a  southerly,  or 
more  probably  south-easterly  direction.  At  about  2.30 
P.M.  there  was  a  specially  grand  outburst  of  steam.  It 
rushed  upwards  nearly  vertically,  just  a  trifle  bent  to 
the  north,  and  dashed  its  head  with  great  violence  through 
the  mushroom-shaped  cloud  or  canopy,  emerged  on  the 
other  side,  and  must  have  ascended  there  from  1000  to 
2000  ft.  higher;  in  all  about  5000  ft.  above  the  sununit 
of  the  mountain. 

At  3.15  P.M.  a  bright  glow  was  seen  on  Erebus  by 

324 


b  b  b  □  g  o  g  b  b  b  O  o  o  O  b  O  o  o  o  o 


o  o  o  O  o  o 
S  o  o  o 
o  o  o  o 


—  M   UJ   ^   Ui   01   ~J  O   (D    O   —  W    W   .-^   u<   .01   .-J  .CO  to    O    — 

b  b  b  b  o  b  Q  b  b  b  o  b  9  9  o  o  g  g  g  g 

OOODOOOOOO"  ~ 

oooOooooooo 


_    O    O    ^ 

q  o  o  o 


o  o 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

^lessrs.  Priestley,  Murray  and  Mackay.  It  illuminated 
the  whole  steam  column  to  the  base  of  the  muslu'oom. 
We  observed  that  the  top  of  this  column  then  spread 
out  gradually,  first  into  a  club-headed  lump,  then  into  a 
mushroom-like  form. 

At  3.25  P.M.  a  remarkably  bright  glow  suddenly  ht  up 
all  the  lower  part  of  the  steam  colunm  above  the  crater. 
This  was  seen  by  Shackleton,  Priestley  and  Day. 

By  3.45  P.M.  the  steam  cloud  had  spread  out  much 
more  and  had  besides  risen  higher,  and  the  fii'st  formed 
portions  of  the  cloud  trailed  away  in  long  streamers  to 
the  south  with  one  extensive  branch  going  first  north 
by  east,  then  north-westerly. 

At  3.50  p.:m.  there  was  another  bright  glow.  As  re- 
gards the  uprushes  of  steam  the  interval  may  not  have 
been  constant,  but  it  seemed  to  be  about  four  to  five 
minutes. 

Towards  6  p.m.  the  bend  over  the  steam  column  to 
the  north-north-west  or  north-west  was  more  strongly 
marked,  and  the  asymmetrj'  of  the  steam  cloud  was  due 
to  a  preponderating  amount  of  steam  gathering  to  the 
north-west  side  of  Erebus.  By  this  time  the  older  part 
of  the  steam  cloud  had  formed  a  species  of  thin  cirrus 
cloud,  about  20,000  ft.  to  30,000  ft.  above  sea-level. 

At  6.40  P.M.  Shackleton  obsei"ved  a  very  bright  glow 
on  the  steam  cloud. 

By  8  P.M.  the  eruption  appeared  to  be  subsiding,  and 
the  steam  cloud  meanwhile  stretched  across  the  sk^-,  now 
in  a  direction  from  east-south-east  to  west-north-west  (the 
surface  wind  was  at  the  time  about  north-north-east ) ,  and 
appeared  to  be  passing  almost  over  Sandy  Beach  and 
Horseshoe  Bay.  It  was  now  delicately  draped  in  the  form 
of  sinuous  thin  folds  like  a  thin  muslin  skirt.  Evidently 
the  wind  direction  had  changed  at  the  summit  level  to 
about  east-south-east  to  west-north-west. 

325 


THE  HEART  OF    THE    ANTARCTIC 

That  night  there  was  a  full  moon.  The  sky  a  lovely 
deep  blue  near  the  zenith,  paler  towards  the  horizon. 
When  the  moon  came  over  the  great  steam  cloud  of 
Erebus  (22|4°  of  arc)  the  scene  was  sublime.  Its  hght 
was  brightly  reflected  from  the  small  glaciers  at  the  south- 
west foot  of  the  cone  of  Erebus ;  all  the  rest  of  the  west 
and  north-west  slope  was  in  deep  shadow.  In  middle 
distance  below  the  base  of  the  cone  soft  white  mist  swathed 
the  mountain.  Near  Backdoor  Bay  and  Caj)e  Royds 
brightly  moonlit  patches  of  snow  showed  up  the  black 
and  dark  brown  patches  of  rock;  our  hut  and  stable  in 
the  middle  of  the  foreground  with  the  dazzling  wliite 
surface  of  our  little  lake  with  its  winding  bays  and  coves. 

On  June  17,  at  8  p.m.,  we  noticed  remarkable  wliite 
cloud-like  dense  white  cumulus  to  north-north-east  over 
the  ridge  at  the  back  of  our  hut  and  towards  Horseshoe 
Bay. 

At  11  P.M.  (about)  Mawson  came  running  down  from 
Anemometer  ridge  to  say  that  an  eruption  had  broken 
out  from  a  new  quarter.  We  rushed  out  and  witnessed 
a  distinct  eruption  amongst  the  huge  masses  of  steam 
hanging  in  the  air  to  the  north-north-east.  The  new  mass 
of  steam,  of  great  volume,  rolled  up  rapidly,  starting  at 
perhaps  2000  ft.  above  sea-level,  to  probably  at  least  5000 
ft.  above  the  sea.  A  photograph  was  taken  of  it,  and 
afterwards  more  distinct  steam  eruptions  were  witnessed. 

The  eruption  appeared  to  have  its  origin  on  the 
southerly  and  south-south-west  slope  of  Mount  Bird,  at 
perhaps  about  2000  ft.  above  the  sea-level.  The  steam 
cloud  appeared  to  ascend  to  a  height  of  about  5000  ft. 
above  sea-level  in  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time.  These 
fumaroles  or  intermittent  geysers  must  be  among  the  most 
powerful  known.  They  appear  to  be  developed  near  the 
meridianal  earth  crack  which  extends  from  Mount  Bird 
southerly  through  Mount  Erebus. 

326 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

A  description  of  the  craters  of  Erebus  has  akeady 
been  given  in  the  narrative  of  this  work,  and  the  fact  is 
emphasized  that  the  interior  of  the  old  crater  is  largely 
filled  with  layers  of  large  felspar  crystals  and  pumice, 
alternating  with  beds  of  snow.  Five  of  these  felspar 
crystals  are  figured  on  the  accompanying  plate. 


ADDITIONAL  NOTES  ON  ERUPTIONS 

By  JAMES  MURRAY 

We  were  not  so  fortunate  as  to  witness  an  eruption 
of  any  great  moment.  The  activity  of  Mount  Erebus 
showed  in  the  form  of  increased  volume  of  the  steam- 
cloud  or  "  smoke-cloud  "  ejected  from  the  crater,  and  in 
a  red  glow  or  flare  at  the  crater,  often  visible  at  night. 
There  were  also  steam  eruptions  from  fumaroles  more  or 
less  distant,  sometimes  many  miles  distant  from  the  active 
crater. 

The  Smoke-Cloud. — We  referred  to  the  cloud  of 
steam  which  issued  from  the  crater  as  the  "  smoke-cloud," 
to  leave  no  chance  of  confounding  it  with  the  great 
laminated  cloud  which  commonly  hung  over  the  mountain. 
The  variations  in  the  volume  of  the  smoke-cloud  were 
associated  with  high  and  low  barometer.  Occasionally, 
for  a  few  days,  no  smoke  was  visible,  and  this  was 
usually  at  times  of  liigh  pressure.  Even  then  we  could 
not  be  sure  that  there  was  no  smoke  issuing,  as  there  is  a 
gap  in  the  crater  not  visible  from  our  camp.  Great 
activity  in  the  ejection  of  steam  occurred  with  the  glass 
as  high  as  29.5  (very  high  for  this  region),  and  as  low  as 
28.3  (pretty  nearly  our  minimum). 

A  large  volume  of  cloud  was  often  thrown  up  with 
great  force,  to  a  height  of  several  thousand  feet,  some- 
times as  much  as  5000  or  6000  ft.,  where  it  spread  out 

327 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 


Eruption  or  June  14,  1908 


ILM-. 


^^SA  -£:?c^  ^.^^  ^^  •</;!4{^" 


r.-sii*    .^» 


i^v 


#* 


Eruption  or  NovEMBEn  27,  1908 


328 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

and  formed  a  "  mushi-oom."  Commonly  in  these  eruptions 
two  columns  could  be  distinguished  issuing  from  the 
crater,  one  white  (steam),  the  other  brown.  When  the 
two  columns  were  soon  caught  by  the  wind,  the  white  one 
went  higher,  and  the  dark  one  remained  lower.  Several 
times  there  were  three  columns  in  the  crater,  and  on 
April  11  there  were  two  in  the  crater,  and  one  outside, 


Great  Steam  Eruption,  September  8,  1908 


well  to  the  right.    This  last  might  be  of  steam  which  had 
rolled  out  through  the  gap. 

One  of  the  largest  eruptions  happened  on  June  14, 
when  the  steam  was  repeatedly  blown  up  to  a  great  height, 
and  getting  into  a  still  region  of  several  thousand  feet 
above  the  crater,  spread  out  on  both  sides  into  a  great 
mushroom  cap.  At  one  period,  while  we  were  looking 
at  it,  a  more  forcible  eruption  took  place,  and  the  ascend- 
ing column  penetrated  the  musliroom  and  formed  a  cone 
above  it,  as  shown  in  the  figure. 

329 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

A  beautiful  eruption  occurred  on  November  27,  while 
a  party  was  breaking  camp  at  a  height  of  about  1600  ft. 
on  the  mountain.  JNlany  diverging  columns  of  steam  shot 
up  simultaneously,  forming  a  design  like  Prince  of  Wales 
feathers.  It  was  accompanied  by  varied  and  curious  cloud 
forms.  An  attempt  to  depict  it  is  made  m  the  second 
illustration. 

From  JVIay  till  September,  when  it  was  sufficiently 
dark  to  allow  it  to  be  seen,  a  red  glow  was  common  at 
the  mouth  of  the  crater.  Usually  it  only  lighted  up  at 
long  intervals  (ten  minutes  or  more),  and  appeared  to  be 
simply  an  illumination  from  some  heated  matter  liidden 
within  the  crater.  Sometimes  it  flared  up  frequently, 
flashing  out  every  few  seconds,  with  brighter  glows  at 
longer  intervals. 

On  several  occasions  (as  on  June  14  and  25),  when 
the  voluminous  smoke-cloud  showed  unusual  activity, 
there  appeared  to  be  red-hot  or  incandescent  matter 
thrown  out  to  a  considerable  height  (1000  to  2000  ft. 
perhaps),  and  the  glow  lighted  up  the  lower  side  of 
the  mushroom  cap.  Nothing  was  ever  seen  to  fall  outside 
the  edge  of  the  crater. 

Dr.  ^lackay  pointed  out  some  fumaroles  on  the  old 
crater,  which  were  visible  from  the  camp  at  Cape  Roj'ds. 
They  would  not  have  been  detected  had  they  not  been  seen 
by  the  party  which  ascended  the  mountain.  Occasionally 
little  jets  of  steam  could  be  seen  issuing  from  these,  and 
on  May  21  quite  a  large  cloud  of  steam  came  from  one  of 
them. 

The  greatest  steam  eruptions  did  not  come  from 
Mount  Erebus,  but  from  a  point  low  down  betw-een  it 
and  Mount  Bird.  In  this  direction  steam-clouds  were 
seen  rising  in  April,  but  in  June  Mawson  twice  reported 
considerable  eruptions.  On  June  17  many  jets  of  steam 
were  seen,  extending  over  a  considerable  area. 

330 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS 

On  September  8  a  single  jet  of  steam  shot  up  to  an 
immense  height,  apparently  to  about  twice  the  height  of 
Mount  Erebus.  A  strong  gale  was  blowing  at  the  time, 
and  the  steam  was  carried  away  in  a  few  seconds,  so  that 
there  was  no  time  to  take  an  angle.  In  spite  of  the  gale 
the  steam  shot  up  with  such  velocity  that  the  column 
appeared  quite  vertical.  The  figure  shows  it  too  near 
Erebus,  for  the  sake  of  comparison. 


appcnDijc  €l)rcc 

SCIENTIFIC  RESULTS  OF  THE  WESTERN 

JOURNEY 

Section  I 
GEOLOCxICAL  AND  GEOGRAPHICAL 

By    RAYMOND    E.  PRIESTLEY,  Geologist    ok   the    Expedition 

rpHE  strati  graph  j'^  of  that  portion  of  the  western  moun- 
-*•  tains  ^\liich  forms  the  chfFs  on  either  side  of  the 
Ferrar  Glacier  has  been  well  described  by  ^Ir.  Ferrar  in 
his  account  of  the  geological  work  carried  out  by  the 
National  Antarctic  Expedition,  1901-3.  In  its  broad  out- 
lines the  sequence  of  rocks  may  be  sketched  as  follows: 

(1)  at  the  base  lies  a  thick  series  of  gneisses  and  schists; 

(2)  a  mass  of  granite  with  intrusive  sills  of  dolerites  lies 
unconformably  on  the  schistose  series;  (3)  this  again  is 
capped  unconformably  by  the  series  of  sedimentary  rocks 
and  interbedded  volcanics  to  which  JNIr.  Ferrar  has  given 
the  name  of  the  Beacon  sandstone. 

In  the  foothills  on  either  side  of  the  lower  slopes  of  the 
glacier  a  series  of  schists  and  gneisses,  with  occasional  beds 
of  limestone,  is  exposed,  and  the  most  striking  feature  of 
this  series  is  the  great  variation  in  texture  and  mineral 
composition  of  these  metamorphic  rocks.  Further  up  the 
valley  of  the  glacier  these  are  capped  by  great  masses  of 
granite  and  porphyry,  which  are  traversed  by  one  sill  of 
dolerite  and  capped  by  another. 

The  intrusive  nature  of  these  dolerites  is  abundantly 

332 


SCIENTIFIC  RESULTS 

proved  by  the  fact  that  in  places  thin  veins  arising  from 
it  can  be  seen  cutting  across  the  granite  both  above  and 
below,  and  even  in  one  or  two  cases  enclosmg  large  masses 
of  that  rock,  which  thus  appear  to  have  been  caught  up 
in  the  dolerite. 

On  the  north  side  of  the  Bluff,  which  forms  the  western 
and  upper  extremity  of  the  Kukri  Hills  and  separates  the 
east  fork  of  the  glacier  from  the  Dry  Valley,  this  structure 
is  very  conspicuous  and  the  lower  sill  of  dolerite  appears 
to  divide,  one  branch  running  upward  and  joining  the 
upper  sill,  whilst  the  other  and  main  branch  runs  down- 
ward at  a  slight  angle  for  a  short  distance,  is  lost  for  fifty 
yards  behind  a  large  talus  heap,  and  reapi^ears  at  a  lower 
level  where  it  becomes  fu-st  horizontal  and  then  can  be 
traced  as  far  as  the  horizon  as  a  broad  black  band  with  a 
very  slight  upward  trend  for  the  last  mile  or  two.  From 
the  upper  dolerite  sill  small  veins  extend  do\vnward  into 
the  granite  below,  and  in  the  Bluff,  at  the  upper  end 
of  the  Kukri  Hills  a  branch  runs  from  the  lower  to  the 
upper  sill. 

The  main  object  of  our  journey  up  the  Ferrar  Glacier 
was  to  examine  the  Beacon  sandstone  at  any  accessible 
exposures  with  a  view  to  the  discover^^  of  any  traces  of 
former  organic  life,  and  with  tliis  object  I  carefully  ex- 
amined at  every  halting-place  the  sandstone  blocks  in 
the  moraines  amongst  which  we  frequently  encamped,  but 
without  success.  Had  there  been  originally  any  organic 
remains  the  probabilities  are  great  that  they  would  have 
been  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  obliterated  by  the  intense 
amount  of  weathering  that  the  rocks  had  undergone.  The 
more  resistant  of  the  blocks  were  coated,  in  many  cases, 
with  a  hard  cnist  of  carbonate  of  lime  derived  from  the 
original  cementing  material,  and  in  places  as  much  as  an 
eighth  of  an  inch  in  tliickness,  and  those  which  were 
originally  held  together  by  a  soluble  cement  were  so  friable 

333 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

that  I  was  able  to  take  blocks  as  big  as  my  head  and  break 
them  up  in  my  fingers  with  as  much  ease  as  1  could  a 
similar-sized  block  of  friable  marl  from  the  English  trias ; 
whilst  in  many  cases  large  masses,  when  struck  fairly  hard 
with  the  haft  of  my  geological  hammer,  crumbled  to  a 
powder  of  individual  quartz  grains.  Each  stone,  owing 
to  its  greater  capacity  for  absorbing  heat  than  that  of  the 
ice  around  it,  had  melted  a  hollow  round  it  of  a  size  depend- 
ent on  its  own,  and  in  cases  where  the  hollows  had  not 
been  tapped  by  some  of  the  many  interlacing  cracks  with 
which  the  face  of  the  glacier  was  seamed,  they  were  full 
of  thaw-water  covered  only  when  in  shadow  by  a  thin  sheet 
of  ice,  and  the  saline  taste  of  this  water,  wliich  we  fre- 
quently were  compelled  to  use  for  cooking  purposes,  was 
an  eloquent  tribute  to  the  amount  of  matter  filched  from 
the  boulders. 

Having  examined  the  medial  and  lateral  moraines  up 
as  far  as  the  Cathedral  Rocks,  and  now  approaching  a 
region  where,  judging  from  the  map,  there  seemed  some 
likelihood  of  reaching  accessible  exposures  of  large  masses 
of  the  Beacon  sandstone,  I  asked  Armytage  to  make  for 
the  passage  between  the  Solitary  Rocks  and  the  north  side 
of  the  glacier,  and  to  make  a  detour  on  the  way  in  order 
to  examine  the  foot  of  the  Obelisk  Range  if  possible. 

In  pursuance  of  this  plan  we  left  the  Cathedral  Rocks 
on  December  20  and  made  for  the  north  side  of  the  glacier, 
examining  morainic  matter  on  the  way,  and  after  success- 
fully negotiating  a  series  of  ice-falls  bj"^  keeping  well  to 
the  north,  we  camped  practically  on  the  site  of  Scott's 
first  camp  after  leaving  the  Dry  Valley,  namely,  at  the 
north-western  end  of  the  Bluff,  which  forms  the  upper 
end  of  tlie  Kukri  Hills.  We  had  a  good  view  of  the 
Solitary  Rocks  from  here  and  of  the  islands  beyond  them, 
and,  in  \'iew  of  subsequent  discoveries  on  closer  inspection, 
I  may  here  say  that  from  our  camp  of  this  m'ght  I 

334 


SCIENTIFIC   RESULTS 

would  myself  have  declared  both  that  the  Solitary'  Rocks 
were  an  island,  that  there  were  two  islands  off  the  south- 
eastern end  of  them,  and  that  in  all  probability  they  were 
of  Beacon  sandstone,  all  three  of  which  suppositions  were 
made  by  the  Discovery  sledge-parties,  and  all  three  of 
which  eventually  turned  out  to  be  incorrect. 

On  the  other  hand,  even  from  here  the  lowest  three  or 
four  thousand  feet  of  the  Obelisk  Range,  marked  on  the 
map  as  Beacon  sandstone,  looked  much  more  like  the 
granite  bluff  under  which  we  were  camped,  and  I  was 
more  than  ever  anxious  to  examine  it  as  closely  as  possible. 

It  was  at  tills  date  that  Arm}i:age  informed  me  that 
he  was  afraid  his  orders  would  not  allow  us  to  reach  the 
Depot  Xunatak  as  he  was  due  to  meet  the  Northern  Party 
at  Butter  Point  on  January  3,  and  as  that  removed  my 
chance  of  getting  fossils  from  the  carbonaceous  bands 
which  occur  in  the  sandstone  of  the  nunatak,  I 
determined  to  give  fuller  attention  to  that  lobe  of  the 
glacier  we  were  now  entering  and  to  examine  the  Obelisk 
Range,  if  possible,  and  the  Solitarj^  Rocks,  together  with 
the  islands  off  them. 

We  therefore  broke  camp  on  the  21st  and  reached  the 
north  wall  of  the  glacier  late  in  the  afternoon,  but  found 
ourselves  cut  off  from  the  cliff  exposure  as  the  ice  ter- 
minated in  a  sheer  precipice  between  two  and  three  hun- 
dred feet  high  and  with  a  considerable  and  swift  river 
running  at  the  bottom.  It  was,  however,  possible  from 
where  we  were  to  see  the  grain  of  the  coarser  varieties  of 
the  rock,  and  I  had  no  hesitation  whatever,  even  then,  in 
naming  it  in  my  diary  as  a  similar  granite,  vdih  intrusions 
of  a  dark  green  porphyrj%  to  that  seen  in  the  Kukri  Hills. 

On  continuing  round  the  lobe  of  the  glacier,  the  next 
big  fact  which  forced  itself  on  my  recognition  was  that 
the  Solitary  Rocks  were  not  islands,  but  were  connected 

335 


THE   HEART  OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

•with  the  north  wall  of  the  glacier  by  a  ridge  of  the  same 
granite  over  a  thousand  feet  high. 

We  were  obliged  at  the  time  that  this  first  became  clear 
to  us  to  move  further  towards  the  centre  of  the  ice,  as 
the  edges  of  the  glacier  had  been  swept  clear  of  snow,  and 
Armytage  did  not  care  to  camp  on  the  bare  ice  with  a 
strong  wind  blowing  straight  towards  the  ice-chff.  After 
the  camp  had  been  pitched,  Armytage  volunteered  to  go 
with  me,  and  we  walked  down  to  to  the  edge  of  the  cliff 
opposite  the  north  wall  of  the  glacier  and  followed  this 
cliff  round  until  we  were  opposite  the  Sohtarj'  Rocks, 
thus  clearly  demonstrating  that  there  is  no  passage  for 
the  glacier  ice  to  the  north  of  these  rocks,  but  that  they 
are  the  butt  end  of  a  peninsula  banking  up  the  ice  above 
and  forcing  it  round  to  the  southern  side,  where  it  de- 
scends as  a  series  of  ice-falls.  At  the  foot  of  the  cliff,  in 
the  corner  made  by  the  istlimus  and  the  main  mass  of  the 
Obelisk  Range,  there  lies  a  lake  of  considerable  size  which 
was  fed  by  a  stream  from  under  the  Solitary  Rocks  and  by 
many  torrents  from  the  gullies  in  the  mountains.  This 
lake  gives  rise  to  the  main  drainage  river,  which  follows 
the  north  wall  of  the  glacier.  I  subsequently  saw  this 
river  at  its  mouth,  and  found  that  in  reacliing  the  sea  it 
sphts  into  a  number  of  sluggish  distributaries  which  have 
deposited  a  considerable  delta  of  fine  detritus  at  the 
eastern  extremity  of  the  Dry  "N^alley.  The  amount  of 
river  denudation,  although  accomplished  in  a  very  small 
portion  of  the  year,  must  be  of  no  mean  geological  result, 
since  all  the  many  streams  I  saw  during  this  thaw  were 
choked  with  fine  sediment,  and  the  lake  was  of  a  yellow 
colour  owing  to  the  amount  of  fine  material  held  in  sus- 
pension in  its  waters. 

At  two  points  I  was  able,  during  the  next  day,  to 
gain  access  to  the  Solitary  Rocks.  These  consist  of 
alternate  bands  of  black  and  yellow  rock  which  are  identi- 

336 


M 


I      = 

C       £ 


J 


SCIENTIFIC  RESULTS 

fied  on  Ferrar's  map  as  dolerite  and  Beacon  sandstone; 
but  on  December  22  I  climbed  down  the  ice-clifF,  crossed 
the  frozen  stream  separating  me  from  the  exposure, 
climbed  up  the  talus  scree  and  collected  from  the  lower 
yellow  band  of  the  Northern  Solitary  and  found  the  rock 
to  be  a  granite  similar  to  that  of  the  Kukri  Hills. 

There  were  numerous  specimens  of  the  dark  porph}Ty 
in  the  scree,  but  I  saw  none  in  situ.  I  also  picked  up 
several  pieces  of  a  dark  fine-grained  basaltic  rock  in  the 
moraines,  a  fact  which  points  to  the  occurrence  of  basalts 
among  the  volcanic  rocks  of  the  upper  regions  of  the 
glacier.  The  large  height  at  wliich  these  last  ice-worn 
specimens  were  found  indicates  to  some  extent  what 
shrinking  there  has  been  in  the  amount  of  ice  overflowing 
through  this  great  glacier.  It  was  at  this  exposure  that 
I  observed  many  great  blocks  that  had  evidently  fallen 
from  the  upper  yellow  band,  and  as  these  proved  to  be  a 
granite  differing  from  that  of  the  lower  band  only  in 
being  of  somewhat  finer  and  more  compact  texture,  I 
decided  to  ask  Armytage  to  allow  me  to  prolong  my  stay 
on  tills  side  of  the  glacier  for  a  few  hours  longer  in  order 
to  collect  if  possible  from  this  upper  band  itself.  In  tliis 
attempt  I  was  partially  thwarted  as  I  was  unable  to  find 
any  accessible  place  where  the  scree  reached  right  to  the 
upper  band,  but  fortunately  I  was  able  at  one  other  place 
to  collect  from  some  blocks  of  the  rock  which  had  fallen 
on  the  top  of  a  scree  sufl^ciently  higli  to  cover  up  the  lower 
granite  completely  and  also  half  the  dolerite  band  above 
it.  I  have  not  the  slightest  hesitation,  therefore,  in  map- 
ping both  the  light  bands  of  the  Solitary  Rocks  as  granite. 

Specimens  were  also  collected  from  the  lower  dolerite 
band,  but  the  upper  one  proved  inaccessible. 

After  leaving  these  rocks  we  decided  to  make  a  day's 
march  round  by  the  islands  mapped  at  their  south-eastern 
extremity,  and  from  there  to  the  bluff  end  of  the  Kukri 

voL  n.-22  337 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Hills  before  proceeding  to  the  south  side  of  the  glacier 
to  look  for  fossils  in  the  Beacon  sandstone  of  the  Knob 
Head  JMountain  and  the  Terracotta  Range.  At  the  point 
where  the  island  (for  the  two  islands  indicated  on  the 
Discovery  map  proved  to  be  one)  was  struck,  it  proved 
inaccessible,  but  was  sufficiently  close  for  a  fairly  accurate 
description  to  be  noted  down  and  a  rough  plan  and  sketch 
were  also  taken.  At  the  north-western  end  the  sill  of 
dolerite  still  remained  as  a  sheet  of  considerable  thickness 
capping  the  granite,  and  cutting  across  the  gi'anite  were 
two  pipes  of  dolerite  several  feet  thick  whicli  persisted  until 
they  were  lost  beneath  the  ice.  The  middle  of  the  island 
is  much  lower  than  either  end,  and  this  causes  the  island, 
when  viewed  from  some  distance,  to  have  the  appearance 
of  two  smaller  ones.  The  south-eastern  end  of  the  island 
is  a  low  granite  hill  with  one  shoulder  capped  by  a  thin 
portion  of  the  dolerite  sill,  the  majority  of  which  has  been 
removed  by  denudation.  A  specimen  picked  up  proved 
the  dolerite  to  be  a  much  finer-grained  variety  than  that 
of  the  Solitary  Rocks.  The  plan  will  be  published  in  the 
geological  volume  of  the  results  of  the  expedition,  to- 
gether with  other  sections  illustrating  different  details. 

Subsequently  we  moved  across  to  Knob  Head  IMoun- 
tain,  and  the  rest  of  the  time  before  it  was  necessary  for 
the  party  to  return  was  occupied  by  an  exhaustive  ex- 
amination of  the  rocks  of  that  mountain  and  the  Terra- 
cotta Mountains,  which,  though  they  yielded  no  fossils, 
produced  many  fine  specimens  in  different  varieties  of  the 
Beacon  sandstones,  and  of  junctions  between  the  sand- 
stone and  the  dolerite.  Specimens  of  many  other  types 
of  rocks  were  obtained  from  the  moraines  at  the  foot  of 
the  cliffs. 

The  cliffs  at  this  spot  are  seamed  with  gullies,  which 
must  be  almost  always  swept  by  the  strong  winds  which 
blew  practically  continuously  during  the  three  or  four  days 

338 


SCIENTIFIC   RESULTS 

we  stayed  there.  A  geological  result  of  this  overflow  of 
cold  air  from  the  inland  plateau  is  that  several  beautiful 
instances  of  mechanical  weathering  through  the  agency 
of  the  sand  blast  are  to  be  seen.  The  most  marked  in- 
stance of  this  type  of  weathering  was  to  be  seen  in  the 
occurrence  of  numerous  cups  of  sandstone  beautifully 
pohshed  and  concentrically  striated  on  the  outside  and 
hollowed  out  more  or  less  perfectly  inside,  ranging  in  size 
from  that  of  a  large  cocoanut  to  that  of  an  ordinary  glass 
marble.  We  were  for  some  time  puzzled  to  account  for 
the  origin  of  these  jDot-holes,  as  we  named  them,  but  the 
mystery  was  cleared  up  when  a  block  of  weathered  sand- 
stone was  found  which  proved  to  be  full  of  round  patches, 
anything  up  to  half  a  foot  in  diameter,  which  were  of  a 
different  colour  and  consistency  from  the  rest  of  the 
rock.  Several  of  these  round  nodules  had  weathered  out 
and  were  lying  at  different  distances  from  the  parent 
rock,  and  when  one  or  two  of  them  were  collected  and 
broken  across  the  middle  with  a  hammer  they  were  seen 
to  consist  of  a  very  hard  and  indurated  outer  shell  from 
an  eighth  to  half  in  inch  thick,  enclosing  a  dark  green 
ferruginous-looking  sandstone  of  larger  grain  and  with 
less  cohesion  between  the  grains.  The  mode  of  origin  of 
these  structures  was  now  clear  for  they  were  to  be  seen 
in  all  stages  of  formation  from  the  nodule  wliich  was 
left  intact  and  only  polished  on  the  outside,  through  the 
various  intermediate  stages,  to  the  perfect  cup  where  the 
inside  had  been  completely  cleaned  out  and  only  the 
polished  outer  shell  was  left,  containing  many  of  the 
quartz  grains  which  had  been  used  by  the  wind  as  a  file 
to  get  rid  of  the  less  resistant  portion  of  the  stone.  Even 
a  further  stage  was  to  be  seen,  for  in  time  the  outer  shell 
itself  began  to  wear  away  and  the  cup  became  sufficiently 
light  to  be  moved  by  the  wind  and  many  had  been  lifted 
up  and  smashed  to  pieces. 

339 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

One  other  testimony  to  the  power  of  the  plateau  wind 
as  a  denuding  agent  was  well  shown  at  a  height  of  6000 
ft.  on  the  Terracotta  3Iountain,  where  the  talus  became 
sufficiently  thin  for  the  Beacon  sandstone  to  be  seen  in 
situ.  One  of  the  beds  of  sandstone  was  a  fine  grained 
white  rock  and  this  stood  out  in  ledges  eighteen  or  twenty 
inches  wide,  and  the  underside  of  these  ledges  had  been 
weathered  into  a  series  of  thin,  roughly  hexagonal  columns 
from  one  to  nine  inches  long,  and  from  a  quarter  to  half 
an  inch  thick. 

Where  these  columns  hung  close  together  their  original 
structure  seemed,  as  before  mentioned,  to  be  hexagonal, 
and  it  appears  probable  that  the  weathering  has  been 
assisted  in  producing  this  particular  type  by  some 
secondary  structure  due  to  alteration  and  secondary 
crystallisation  in  the  rock  itself.  When  the  columns  hung 
further  apart,  owing  to  the  gaps  made  by  the  entire 
removal  of  some,  the}'  had  lost  all  definite  shape  and 
resembled  nothing  so  much  as  stone  icicles.  Several 
specimens  of  both  types  of  weathered  sandstone  were 
collected,  but  those  of  the  latter  type  were  extremely 
difficult  to  preserve  during  a  sledge  journey  over  rough 
ice,  and  one  or  two  also  were  damaged  in  the  transition 
from  the  Butter  Point  Depot  to  the  ship. 

On  the  way  down  the  glacier  any  specimens  were  col- 
lected which  had  peculiar  markings  on  them,  and  these 
and  the  other  specimens  secured  will  be  carefully  examined 
when  the  detailed  petrological  work  is  done,  but  it  is  very 
improbable  that  any  of  them  will  reveal  the  presence  of 
any  organic  remains  sufficientlj'^  unaltered  to  be 
identifiable. 

At  the  entrance  of  the  east  fork  of  the  glacier  and  on 
the  north  side  we  passed  and  examined  moraines  which 
were  essentially  different  from  the  ordinary  moraines  met 
with  higher  up,  and  there  seems  no  doubt  that  the  sea 

340 


SCIENTIFIC  RESULTS 

has  played  a  considerable  part  in  the  heaping  up  of  this 
material  at  the  mouth  of  the  glacier.  It  is  proposed  to 
deal  more  fully  with  this  subject  in  that  section  of  the 
chapter  having  reference  to  the  recent  elevation  of  land. 


Section  II 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  STRANDED  MORAINES  AND  DRY  VALLEY, 

WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  THE  RECENT  ELEVATION 

OF  THE  LAND  BORDERING  McMURDO  SOUND 

We  fu-st  visited  the  moraines  on  December  4,  when  I 
collected  a  few  specimens  of  rock  and  some  moss  and 
fungus  for  Murray,  but  was  not  able  to  take  much  extra 
weight  as  we  were  akeady  puUing  215  lb.  per  man.  Sub- 
sequent visits  were  made  on  December  13  and  January  5, 
and  it  is  from  notes  taken  on  these  three  visits  that  I 
have  compiled  the  description  which  follows. 

The  moraines  are  several  miles  long  and  of  consider- 
able breadth,  while  many  of  their  numerous  small  hills 
reach  a  height  of  between  a  hundred  and  a  hundred  and 
fifty  feet.  They  consist  of  a  heterogeneous  collection  of 
debris  of  numerous  varieties  of  rocks,  and  the  material 
ranges  in  size  from  blocks  containing  many  cubic  feet 
of  rock  to  the  finest  dust.  They  are  separated  from  the 
Piedmont  glacier  which  here  fringes  the  mountains  by  a 
stream-channel  cut  out  almost  to  sea-level,  and  the  water 
which  has  accomplished  tliis  erosion  is  evidently  the  result 
of  the  summer  thaw,  the  stream  being  fed  during  that 
season  both  from  the  glacier  and  from  the  snowdrifts  on 
the  western  side  of  the  moraines.  This  stream  is  under- 
cutting the  ice,  and  from  the  exposures  of  morainic  mate- 
rial on  its  western  bank  it  appears  probable  that  the  mantle 
of  debris  continues  right  up  to  the  flanks  of  the  foothills  to 
the  west, 

341 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

The  debris  being  mostly  of  a  dark  colour  the  amount 
of  thaw  in  summer  is  considerable,  and  the  whole  district 
is  seamed  with  stream-channels  which,  during  the  few 
sunny  days  in  the  height  of  summer,  are  filled  with  run- 
ning water.  Every  basin-like  hollow  between  the  ridges 
and  peaks  is  filled  with  a  lake  corresponding  in  size  to 
that  of  the  hollow.  In  spite  of  the  loose  nature  of  the 
debris  the  lake  basins  are  enabled  to  hold  water  because  at 
all  periods  of  the  year  the  ground  at  a  depth  of  a  few 
feet  is  frozen  hard.  Even  in  summer,  the  whole  mass 
of  the  debris,  except  an  outer  mantle,  is  firmly  cemented, 
in  consequence  of  the  freezing  at  a  slight  depth  of  the 
percolating  water  supplied  by  the  melting  snowdrifts. 

Proof  of  this  is  seen  where  the  streams  have  cut  fairly 
deep  channels  in  the  moraines.  In  the  walls  of  these 
channels  lenticles  of  opaque  ice  fairly  free  from  gravel 
and  varying  from  an  inch  or  two  to  a  couple  of  feet  in 
thickness  are  to  be  seen  in  many  places,  wliile  in  other 
places,  if  a  few  feet  of  the  outer  mantle  of  the  stream- 
cliff  are  removed,  the  gravel  behind  is  found  to  be  firmly 
cemented. 

Most  of  the  streams  run  northwards,  and  at  the 
northern  end  of  the  moraines  quite  a  thick  alluvial  deposit, 
having  a  strong  resemblance  to  a  series  of  miniature  deltas, 
is  to  be  seen  along  the  ice-foot,  awaiting  subsequent  re- 
moval to  the  sea.  The  amount  of  material  removed  from 
the  moraines  in  this  way  must  be  very  considerable. 
Another  agency  which  must  be  fast  reducing  the  size  of 
the  moraines  is  the  direct  heat  of  the  summer  sun  on  the 
cliffs  at  the  northern  end.  Frequently  while  we  were 
camped  near  the  moraines  small  avalanches  of  gravel  and 
mud  fell  on  to  the  ice-foot,  and  many  tons  of  material 
brought  dowTi  in  this  manner  must  be  carried  away  when 
the  ice-foot  breaks  up  in  the  late  summer  months.  The 
wind  also  plays  an  important  part  in  the  transport  of  finer 

342 


SCIENTIFIC  RESULTS 

material;  the  snow  for  several  miles  to  the  north  of  the 
moraines  being  full  of  grit,  which  is  so  abundant  that,  as 
I  have  observed  in  my  diary,  it  accelerates  considerably 
the  melting  of  the  drift-snow  and  surface  of  the  ice. 

There  is  a  much  greater  proportion  of  pebbles  and 
larger  boulders  in  the  upper  layers  of  the  morainic  material 
than  in  the  lower,  as  seen  in  section  in  the  northern  cliff 
exposures.  This  phenomenon,  I  think,  is  partially  ex- 
plained by  the  fact  that  the  finer  material  would  gradually 
be  carried  down  by  the  thaw-water  and  used  to  increase 
the  compactness  of  the  lower  layers  at  the  expense  of  the 
upper  ones;  but  in  addition  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that 
when  the  glacier  which  borders  the  moraines  was  actually 
providing  an  outlet  for  the  ice  accumulating  on  the  moun- 
tains above  it,  it  brought  down  its  quota  of  morainic 
material  from  the  local  sources,  wliich  local  material 
would  reach  the  moraines  rather  in  the  condition  of  large 
fragments  than  as  the  finely  divided  debris  which  is  essen- 
tially the  result  of  the  prolonged  trituration  for  which  a 
long  journey  is  necessary.  This  latter  explanation  finds 
support  in  the  abundance  of  local  erratics  on  that  portion 
of  the  moraines  nearest  the  shore,  erratics  which  are 
identical  with  the  different  great  formations  which  crop 
out  in  the  sides  of  the  glacier  valleys  furrowing  the 
western  mountains.  As  for  the  material  which  makes  up 
the  main  mass  of  the  moraines,  a  great  proportion  of  it 
must  have  come  across  the  Sound,  because  while  there  is 
no  evidence  of  any  other  great  outburst  of  kenytic 
material  besides  that  of  IMount  Erebus,  large  quantities  of 
kenyte  and  kenytic  fragmental  rocks  were  picked  up  by 
my  companions  and  myself  during  our  short  stay  here. 

With  regard  to  the  distribution  of  the  local  erratics,  I 
will  quote  a  note  from  my  diary  of  January  6,  1909, 
when  I  observed  that :  "  The  southernmost  portion  of  the 
moraines  is  almost  entirely  composed  of  angular  basaltic 

343 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

and  kenytic  debris  on  the  seaward  side,  tlie  local  boulders 
becoming  more  common  as  the  landward  side  is  ap- 
proached, though  at  the  northern  end  of  the  moraines 
these  boulders  become  very  numerous  even  on  the  extreme 
seaward  side." 

An  important  characteristic  in  addition  to  those  already 
noted  is  the  very  isolated  occurrence  of  some  of  the 
erratics. 

Some  small  conical  heaps  consisting  entirely  of  frag- 
ments of  one  kind  of  rock  were  undoubtedly,  from  the 
angular  nature  of  the  fragments,  the  final  results  of  the 
frost  weathering  of  very  large  original  blocks.  Not  so 
in  all  cases,  however.  In  the  case  of  one  basalt  tuff 
particularly  I  noticed  that  it  was  found  entirely  covering 
two  or  three  small  hills  at  the  south-eastern  corner  of  the 
moraines,  and  I  found  it  nowhere  else.  The  pieces  were 
all  rounded  or  subangular  and  they  were  too  scattered  to 
have  been  the  result  of  the  weathering  of  a  few  large 
boulders. 

I  have  noticed  in  my  diary  a  similar  occurrence  of 
olivine  basalt  on  one  ol  the  mounds  fringing  the  Terraced 
Lake  at  Cape  Barne,  within  two  miles  of  winter  quarters. 

One  fact  points  to  recent  elevation  of  these  moraines. 
At  the  north-eastern  end  of  the  moraines  a  number  of 
flat-topped  lulls  and  ridges  were  of  the  same  height  and 
all  capped  by  several  inches  of  a  brownish  deposit  which 
proved,  on  examination,  to  be  a  fungus  similar  to  those 
found  in  the  lakes  at  winter  quarters.  The  whole  district 
seems,  therefore,  to  have  been  at  quite  a  recent  date  a  lake 
bed.  The  lake  has  been  elevated  and  drained,  and  its  bed 
has  been  dissected  by  streams,  whilst  the  higher  land  which 
formerly  existed  to  the  east  and  constituted  the  boundary 
of  the  lake,  has  been  worn  down  and  removed  during  the 
recent  elevation  of  the  moraines  by  a  combination  of  the 
successive  summer  thaws  and  marine  erosion. 

344 


SCIENTIFIC   RESULTS 

I  have  given  a  fairly  full  description  of  these  moraines 
because  their  characteristics  are  interesting,  and  they  are  a 
duplicate  of  those  we  afterwards  examined  in  the  north- 
eastern fork  of  the  Ferrar  Glacier,  to  which  Captain 
Scott  gave  the  name  of  Dry  Valley.  In  describing  the 
latter  I  wish  to  pay  particular  attention  to  the  raised 
beach  there. 

Specimens  of  moss,  fungus  and  alga  were  secured,  as 
also  numerous  specimens  of  a  peculiar  rotifer  living  in  the 
lakes,  but  a  striking  feature  of  the  life  of  the  moraines 
was  the  absence  of  any  type  of  Uchen. 

The  Dry  Vai.ley  of  New  Harbour 

It  was  originally  hitended  that  a  sledge-party  of  three 
should  make  an  exhaustive  examination  of  the  area  which 
was  originally  occupied  by  the  north-eastern  arm  of  the 
Ferrar  Glacier,  but  from  wliich  the  ice  has  at  present  re- 
treated, and  which  is  now  covered  by  a  thick  deposit  of 
morainic  debris.  The  plans  were,  however,  decidedly 
modified  through  the  Northern  Party  failing  to  return  to 
Butter  Point,  and  our  operations  being  much  restricted 
by  our  orders,  we  were  unfortunately  unable  to  spend 
more  than  two  days  in  the  Valley.  On  January  12  we 
left  Butter  Point  for  New  Harbour,  and  reached  our 
objective  at  6  p.m.  the  same  day. 

The  13th  and  14th  were  spent  examining  the  moraines, 
and  on  the  15th  we  returned  to  our  permanent  camping- 
place  at  the  Point,  and  resumed  our  wait  for  the  Northern 
Party. 

We  had  hardly  been  on  shore  half  an  hour  when 
Armji;age  picked  up  some  fragments  of  Pecten  colbecki, 
the  shell  of  a  mollusc,  which  is  still  found  li^-ing  on  the 
sea-floor  at  Back  Door  Bay.  Encouraged  by  this  find 
we  devoted  all  our  energies  towards  making  similar  dis- 

345 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

coveries  at  different  points  along  the  foreshore,  and  were 
successful  beyond  my  wildest  hopes.  Not  only  were 
numerous  fragments  and  many  whole  valves  of  the  Pecten 
obtained  at  all  elevations  up  to  fifty  feet  above  sea-level, 
but  in  several  spots  fragments  of  the  shell  of  an  Anatina, 
a  mollusc  which  still  flourishes  abundantly  in  the  sea  on 
the  other  side,  were  very  numerous,  and  in  one  place,  by 
digging  down  several  inches  into  the  sand  with  the  lid 
of  a  cocoa-tin,  I  secured  two  double-valve  shells  of 
another  species  of  bivalve  Avhich  I  have  seen  commonly  in 
our  biologist's  dredge. 

From  the  abundance  of  the  shells  I  have  no  doubt  at 
all  that  this  was  a  genuine  raised  beach,  and  the  recent 
nature  of  the  shells  points  to  the  probability  of  the  rise  of 
the  land  being  still  in  progress.  A  few  shells  might  have 
been  cast  up  by  the  waves  of  a  storm  during  the  short 
time  that  the  bay  is  free  from  ice  or  ice-foot,  but  the  vast 
number  of  the  organic  remains  precludes  the  possibility  of 
their  having  all  been  cast  up  by  this  means,  while  a  still 
stronger  point  is  the  nature  and  wholeness  of  the  shells: 
both  the  Pecten  and  the  Anatina  possess  shells  of  extreme 
fragility,  and  we  cannot  suppose  that  they  could  be  hurled 
about  by  waves  capable  of  throwing  them  hundreds  of 
yards  up  the  gravel  banks  without  being  smashed  to 
atoms.  Yet  hundreds  of  valves  of  the  Pecten  especially 
were  practically  intact,  ears  and  all,  and  the  only  way  to 
account  for  their  presence  so  far  out  of  their  native 
element  is  on  the  supposition  of  a  gradual  rising  of  the 
land,  such  as,  from  evidence  recently  brought  to  light, 
appears  to  be  taking  place  along  large  stretches  of  the 
western  coast  of  the  Sound. 

There  were  large  mud-flats  bordering  the  ice-foot  in 
this  valley,  and  these  reached  their  greatest  extent  where 
they  were  augmented  by  the  deltaic  material  of  the  many 
streams  draining  the  valley,  and  on  them,  a  few  feet  above 

346 


SCIENTIFIC  RESULTS 

the  present  sea-level,  I  secured  numerous  specimens  of 
amphipods,  and  sea-spiders,  and  one  small  fish,  all  in  a 
much  desiccated  condition.  It  is  not  necessary  to  postulate 
a  recent  rise  in  the  level  of  the  land  to  account  for  these 
sjjecimens,  since,  in  the  short  period  when  the  sea  is  re- 
leased from  the  control  of  its  icy  winter  covering,  a  strong 
^\ind  blowing  directlj^  into  the  bay  would  inevitably  cause 
a  rise  in  the  level  of  the  water  sufficient  to  assure  the 
submergence  of  those  portions  of  the  mud-flats  immedi- 
ately adjacent  to  the  ice-foot.  Upon  the  recession  of  the 
sea,  numerous  animals  would  be  left  stranded  in  any  shght 
depression  in  the  recently  covered  flats,  and  evaporation 
and  ablation  would  remove  the  sea  water  during  the  late 
summer  and  autumn,  leaving  the  desiccated  remains  of  the 
animals  and  giving  rise  to  an  efflorescence  of  salt  on  the 
surface  of  the  mud.  Indeed,  this  sequence  of  events  might 
very  well  have  been  caused  by  the  very  blizzard  which 
raged  from  February  20  to  the  22nd,  1908,  when  the 
Nimrod  was  driven  north. 

The  remaining  features  of  the  Dry  Valley  moraines 
are  very  much  a  repetition  of  those  of  the  stranded 
moraines,  but  on  a  much  larger  scale.  I  was  unfortunately 
only  able  in  the  hmited  time  at  my  disposal  to  cursorily 
examine  a  few  square  miles  of  the  moraines,  and  in  my 
longest  excursion  only  penetrated  three  or  four  miles  in- 
land. This  particular  walk,  however,  resulted  in  one  inter- 
esting observation,  for  I  reached  a  height  of  between  five 
hundred  and  six  hundred  feet,  and  found  that  the  abund- 
ance of  what  might  be  called  erratics  foreign  to  the  valley, 
namely,  kenj-te  and  basalt  and  fragmental  rocks  apper- 
taining to  these  two  types,  had  in  no  wise  diminished  in 
quantity,  their  proportion  to  those  rocks  which  obviously 
might  have  been  derived  from  the  sides  of  the  valley  or 
from  the  higher  reaches  of  the  glacier  remaining  much 
the  same  as  at  sea-level. 

347 


THE   HEART   OF   THE   ANTARCTIC 

Only  two  of  the  many  stream-channels  wliich  furrow 
the  district  immediately  round  the  camp  are  now  active, 
the  rest  being  at  the  best  only  occupied  by  a  series  of 
stagnant  pools,  while  numerous  depressions  of  smaller  ex- 
tent, with  a  heavy  efflorescence  of  salt  coating  the  gravel, 
mark  the  site  of  former  pools. 

The  most  northerl}^  and  most  flourishing  stream  in  the 
Dry  Vallej'  has  cut  a  channel  fifty  feet  deep  through  the 
stratified  gravel,  the  sides  of  which  slope  steeply  at  angles 
between  45  and  75".  The  water  here  was  unfit  to  drink, 
owing  to  the  amount  of  fine  sediment  held  in  suspension. 
As  the  stream  became  sluggish  when  breaking  up  into 
numerous  branches  and  meandering  across  the  alluvial 
stretches  of  land  at  its  mouth,  this  fine  sedhncnt  could 
(juite  easily  be  observed  settling  down  in  sufficient  (juantity 
to  add  appreciably  to  the  delta  even  in  the  course  of  a 
few  days. 

During  our  stay  at  this  camp  I  collected  numerous 
specimens  of  the  more  interesting  erratics  and  bags  of 
the  finer  material  of  the  deposits,  and  Brocklehurst 
secured  specimens  from  New  Harbour  Heights,  including 
two  pieces  of  fairly  pure  calcite  from  one  of  the  limestones 
interbedded  with  the  Archa?an  schists. 

Biological  Field  Notes 

Specimens  of  moss,  fungus  and  lichen  were  obtained 
for  Murray.  One  of  these  si^ecimens  is  worth  individual 
notice,  namely,  a  fungus-like  substance  growing  as  a  thick 
layer  on  the  black  mud  of  the  tide-flats  just  above  the 
])resent  level  of  the  water  and  well  inside  the  region  which 
must  be  covered  either  at  an  ordinary  high  tide  or  during 
any  unusual  rise  of  the  water. 

The  peculiar  point  about  the  plant  which  first  struck 
me  was  the  formation  of  a  series  of  cones,  as  much  as  six 

348 


SCIENTIFIC  RESULTS 

inches  high,  and  formed  by  the  gas  from  the  organic  mud 
underneath  collecting  as  large  bubbles  under  the  imper- 
vious skin  of  fungus. 

We  saw  altogether  three  whole  specimens  of  Crabeater 
seals  and  a  like  number  of  Weddells  dead  on  the  hills 
hereabouts,  and  the  moraines  are  covered  with  scattered 
remains.  One  of  the  Crabeater  carcases  was  lying  at  a 
steep  angle  on  one  of  the  banks  bordering  the  northern 
stream  I  have  mentioned  earlier  in  my  notes,  and  at  a 
height  above  sea-level  of  considerably  over  two  hundred 
feet,  but  this  does  not  compare  with  the  heights  at  which 
we  found  similar  skeletons  in  the  Ferrar  Glacier  Valley, 
no  less  than  three  being  found  there  between  the  two 
thousand-  and  tliree  thousand-foot  levels. 


Moraines  est  the  East  Fork  of  the  Ferrar  Glacier 

The  last  ten  miles  of  the  east  valley  of  the  Ferrar 
Glacier  below  the  fii'st  ice-falls  is  occupied  by  a  peculiar 
variety  of  ice  which,  at  its  highest  point,  is  not  forty  feet 
above  sea-level,  and  is  apparently  composed  largely  of 
frozen  slush  formed  by  the  inundation  of  the  winter  snow- 
drifts by  the  summer  thaw-water.  With  this  are  inter- 
mingled patches  of  macrocrystalline  ice  exactly  compar- 
able with  the  ice  so  common  on  the  lakes  at  Cape  Royds, 
especially  Blue  Lake,  and  evidently  caused  by  the  freez- 
ing of  pure  thaw-water.  I  propose  to  give  the  detailed 
evidence  regarding  the  nature  of  this  stretch  of  ice  when 
the  scientific  results  of  the  expedition  are  published  in 
full.  At  present  I  will  only  mention  certain  deposits,  a 
portion  of  which  is  visible  as  a  series  of  small  hills  pro- 
truding above  the  ice-surface,  which  hills,  from  their  occur- 
rence in  a  fairly  straight  line,  appear  to  be  the  more 
prominent  peaks  of  a  partially  submerged  ridge.  These 
deposits  I  examined  carefully  on  December  31,  1908,  on 

349 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

our  return  from  the  glacier,  and  was  able  to  secure  numer- 
ous specimens  which  rendered  it  certain  that  they  are 
exactly  comparable  with  the  stranded  moraines  and  also 
with  those  afterwards  examined  in  the  Dry  Valley.  Con- 
cerning these  deposits  I  have  down  in  my  diary  the  follow- 
ing notes:  "  Large  quantities  of  the  debris  are  composed 
of  the  local  granites  and  schists,  but  in  the  space  of  half 
an  hour  I  have  picked  up  specimens  of  two  or  three 
varieties  of  tuff  (consolidated  volcanic  ash),  basalt, 
kenyte  and  an  olivine  and  augite  kenyte  wliich  occurs 
sparsely  at  Cape  Royds,  and  which  I  have  so  named  be- 
cause it  contains  large  porphyritic  crystals  of  augite  and 
olivine  besides  the  more  common  anorthoclase  felspar,  and 
also  various  porphyries  which  I  have  not  seen  or  heard 
of  in  the  valley  itself." 

Thus  in  the  case  of  all  three  of  these  moraines,  the 
stranded  moraines,  those  of  the  Dry  Valley,  and  those  of 
the  East  Fork  of  the  Ferrar  Glacier,  the  conclusion  is 
irresistible  that  a  considerable  portion  of  the  material  com- 
posing them  has  either  been  brought  many  miles  up  the 
coast  of  the  Sound,  or  has  been  carried  right  across  the 
Sound.  The  three  agencies  which  alone  could  be  respon- 
sible for  this  transport  to  anj'  large  extent  are :  ( 1 )  Shore- 
drift.  (2)  A  considerably  greater  extent  of  the  ice-sheet 
and  all  its  affluents,  such  as  glaciers,  barriers,  &c.  Of  such 
an  extension  there  are  abundant  evidences,  of  which  I  may 
here  mention  the  finding  of  granite  and  schistose  erratics  at 
a  height  of  1100  ft.  on  the  slopes  of  Erebus  by  Professor 
David,  Armytage  and  myself  in  the  autumn  of  last  year. 
(3)  The  third  agency,  and  one  which  I  have  myself  ob- 
served in  operation,  is  the  transporting  power  of  icebergs 
and  pieces  broken  off  the  ice- foot.  At  Cape  Royds  I  have 
frequently  seen,  especially  around  Flagstaff  Point,  large 
boulders  of  kenyte  being  carried  out  on  pieces  of  the  ice- 
foot, and  I  have  seen  several  icebergs  which  were  full  of 

350 


SCIENTIFIC  RESULTS 

a  fairly  fine  sediment.     While  the  ice  is  at  its  present 
extent,  however,  this  last  agency  can  only  be  a  minor  one. 


Section  III 

EFFECT  OF  THE  SUMMER  SUN  ON  DIFFERENT  VARIETIES 
OF  ICE  AND  SNOW 

The  melting  of  large  stretches  of  normally  pure  snow 
is  carried  out  by  the  increase  of  some  grains  to  the  detri- 
ment of  others,  and  tliis,  in  cases  where  the  air  tempera- 
ture is  low  and  the  upper  crust  is  cooled  by  a  cold  breeze, 
results  in  the  formation  of  crusts  of  snow  delicately 
equipoised  over  considerable  areas,  for  the  vapour  from 
the  lower  snow  crystals  is  cooled  and  condensed  on  those 
of  the  upper  layer,  and  in  time  the  ciystals  of  the  latter 
become  firmly  joined  together.  Underneath  this  layer  the 
ablating  process  still  continues,  leaving  as  a  final  product 
a  powder  of  much  larger  granules  of  snow  than  the 
particles  of  the  original  drift,  wliilst  the  upper  crust  is 
only  immediately  supported  from  beneath  in  places  few 
and  far  between.  Quite  commonly,  when  the  leader  of 
the  sledge-party  stepped  on  the  edge  of  one  of  these  areas, 
the  whole  cmst  would  shatter  and  fall  to  the  ground  with 
a  soft  sibilant  sound. 

It  is  this  process  which  causes  the  lessening  in  the 
amount  of  true  drift  in  the  summer  blizzards.  In  those 
winds  during  tliis  season  which  were  free  from  snow  the 
only  drift  was  a  low  one,  seldom  reaching  above  our  thighs, 
and  I  should  decidedly  attribute  this  to  the  fact  that  the 
granules  of  ice  produced  by  the  summer  ablation  are 
sufficiently  large  and  heavy  to  prevent  an  ordinary  wind 
from  carrying  them  very  far  or  liigh. 

When  this  process  is  going  on  in  the  drifts  above  the 
sea-ice  it  is  somewhat  modified,  because  the  sea-ice  melts 

351 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

at  a  temperature  between  28°  and  29°  Fahr.,  causing 
actual  thawing  of  the  drift  to  take  place  from  below  and 
the  ice-crust  over  the  top  of  the  drifts  to  become  much 
thicker.  The  tlaickness  in  cases  of  deep  drifts  attains  as 
much  as  a  quarter  of  an  inch.  When  this  crust  breaks 
beneath  the  foot,  an  unwary  explorer  is  liable  to  be  let 
down  six  or  nine  inches  into  a  pool  of  salt  water  several 
inches  deep,  and  this  rendered  sledging  over  the  sea  ice  in 
the  late  summer  particularly  objectionable. 

On  December  21  the  temperature  of  the  air  in  the 
Ferrar  Glacier  Valley  reached  -iO^  Fahr.,  and  in  the  few 
hours  during  which  the  air  remained  calm  two  inches  of 
snow  which  had  fallen  the  previous  night  had  either  been 
entirely  removed  as  thaw-water  or  converted  into  a  thin 
coating  of  rough  ice,  opaque  through  the  inclusion  of 
air,  which  formed  a  distinct  help  to  us  in  our  subsequent 
marches,  as  it  very  much  reduced  the  slipperiness  of  the 
ablation  ripples. 

The  principal  characteristics  of  this  big  thaw  on  an 
Ajitarctic  glacier  are  interesting,  and  some  of  them  may 
be  mentioned  here.  Every  stone  in  the  glacial  moraines  is 
surrounded  by  a  large  hollow,  scooped  out  by  the  heat 
radiation  from  the  boulder,  and  these  hollows  are  all,  more 
or  less,  full  of  thaw-water,  which  is  also  overflowing 
through  every  deep  ablation  ripple  and  crack.  A  number 
of  the  small  rJATilets  from  these  sources  join  up  at  a  little 
distance  from  their  source  to  form  a  stream,  and  innumer- 
able streams  are  flowing  down  over  the  convex  face  of 
the  glacier  to  join  the  river  which  can  be  heard  roaring 
at  the  foot  of  the  cliff  wliich  ends  the  ice- face.  In  search- 
ing for  a  camp  on  the  night  of  the  21st  we  passed  across 
large  areas  of  the  glacier  face  which  were  slightly  de- 
pressed below  the  general  level  and  at  the  bottoms  of  these 
depressions  we  were  compelled  to  wade  through  stretches 
of  water,  three  or  four  inches  deep,  for  hundreds  of  yards. 


SCIENTIFIC  RESULTS 

Other  characteristics  of  the  thaw  are  described  in  one  of 
the  extracts  taken  from  my  diary  and  drafted  into  the 
general  report  of  the  journey  in  a  previous  part  of  the 
book. 

One  other  effect  of  the  sun's  heat  on  snow  under 
pecuhar  conditions,  wliich  I  should  like  to  mention  here, 
is  the  case  I  noticed  of  the  snow  surrounding  many 
boulders  in  the  lowest  reaches  of  the  glacier  below  the  fu'st 
ice-falls.  jNIuch  of  the  larger  morainic  debris  was  here 
surrounded  by  a  coating  of  pure  ice  under  the  snow  of 
the  drift,  and  between  each  boulder  and  the  drift  snow 
was  to  be  seen  a  transitional  granular  stage  hke  that 
already  mentioned,  but  much  more  exaggerated,  many 
of  the  grains  nearest  the  boulder  being  a  quarter  of  an 
inch  or  more  in  diameter. 

Finally,  in  closing  this  short  report  of  the  scientific 
results  of  the  western  journey,  I  should  like  to  pay  a 
tribute  to  the  generous  help  I  received  from  my  com- 
panions, who  thought  nothing  of  climbing  screes  many 
hundi'eds  and  even  thousands  of  feet  in  height  at  the  end 
of  a  long  day's  march  in  order  to  assist  me  in  obtaining 
a  representative  geological  collection,  so  that  many  of 
the  most  valuable  specimens  secured  were  collected  by 
them.  To  Armytage  especially,  the  leader  of  the  partj% 
my  thanks  are  due  for  the  unfailing  consideration  he 
showed  for  the  scientific  work  of  the  party  and  for  the 
way  he  accompanied  me  on  every  excursion  I  made  after 
specimens  of  any  description.  For  reading  the  manuscript 
of  this  article  and  suggesting  manv  alterations  in  the  text 
I  am  much  indebted  to  :Mr.  T.  F.  Sibly,  D.Sc,  F.G.S. 


Vol.  n.— 23 


appenUijc  ifour 

NOTES  ON  PHYSICS,  CHEMISTRY, 
AND  MINERALOGY 

ICE  AND  SNOW 

Notes  by  DOUGLAS  MAWSON,  B.Sc,  B.E. 

rpHE  most  interesting  results  were  obtained  in  a  study 
-'■  of  ice  in  all  its  forms,  the  temperature  conditions  in 
such  a  climate  producing  phenomena  hardly  to  be  realized 
by  the  student  of  more  temperate  regions.  At  tempera- 
tures even  far  below  freezing-point,  snow  is  able  to  com- 
pact itself  and  become  quite  hard  by  a  slow  process  of 
vaporisation  and  recrj-stallisation.  The  tendency  is  for 
the  smaller  snow  particles  to  disappear  and  the  larger  to  be 
added  to  at  their  expense,  and  when  other  conditions  are 
suitable  well-formed  crystals  are  built  up  in  this  way. 
Thus  well-developed  hexagonal  barrel-shaped  crystals  of 
ice  were  found  developed  on  a  seal's  liver,  which  had  been 
buried  during  the  winter. 

Variations  in  atmospheric  temperatures  were  always 
accompanied  by  phenomena  such  as  this;  for  example,  at 
times  of  falling  temperature,  no  matter  through  what 
limits,  a  development  of  spicular  ice  formed  over  all  ex- 
posed objects.  Tliis  accompanied  a  fall  of  even,  say,  from 
50°  Fahr.  to  60°  Fahr.  below  freezing-point.  Serious 
interference  with  spectroscopic  work  was  thus  introduced 
on  account  of  the  camera  lens  becoming  thickly  coated 
with  ice.  A  similar  phenomenon  was  continually  produced 
in  a  small  laboratory  built  as  an  adjunct  to  the  hut.    Tliis 

354 


|(   K     I'OHMATIONS 


PHYSICS 

opened  indirectly  by  the  outer  passage  to  the  interior  of 
the  hut.  jMoist  air  from  the  hving-quarters,  kejit  at  a  mean 
tempei'ature  just  above  freezing-point,  circulated  through 
the  cracks  around  the  door  and  entered  the  laboratory, 
which  for  the  most  of  the  time  maintained  a  mean  tempera- 
ture of  40°  Fahr.  to  50°  Fahr.  below  freezing-point; 
there  the  water  vapour  crystallised  out,  coating  the  walls 
and  passages  with  a  thick  formation  of  ice  blades.  The 
result  was  exquisitely  beautiful,  but  most  undesirable, 
finally  making  it  necessary  to  abandon  the  room  for  every- 
thing but  ice  Avork. 

In  the  same  A\ay  ice  formations  appeared  on  the 
colder  portions  of  the  interior  of  the  hut.  In  crevasses 
beautifully  formed  crystals  up  to  four  inches  in  length 
were  found  developed  on  the  walls  from  circulating 
vapour.  Along  cracks  in  the  sea  ice  during  winter  such 
formations  were  abundantly  produced.  In  such  situations 
the  sea-water  actually  "  smokes,"  an  effect  due  to  the 
freezing  out  of  abundant  water  vapour  present  in  the 
warmer  air  ascending  from  it.  This  condensation  pro- 
duces beautiful  fern-like  crystal  formations,  not  only  on 
the  sides  of  the  cracks  but  also  on  the  frozen  sea  surface 
itself;  these  ice  flowers  are  best  developed  when  the  sur- 
face waters  freeze  most  rapidly. 

During  the  formation  of  the  surface  ice  some  of  the 
sea  salts  are  squeezed  upward  through  capillar\^  cracks  to 
the  surface  and  there  in  the  fomi  of  concentrated  brine 
eventually  freeze  as  cryo-hydrates  and  form  nuclei  for 
additions  from  atmospheric-water  vapour.  The  net 
result  is  the  production  of  little  rosette-shaped  aggre- 
gates of  radiating  crystal  blades,  which  were  met  vidth  up 
to  two  inches  in  height. 

As  a  rule,  however,  the  moisture  is  precipitated  from 
the  atmosphere  in  the  form  of  snow.     Rain  is  quite  un- 

355 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

known  in  South  Victoria  Land.  ^lany  varieties  of  snow 
were  observed.  When  precipitation  occurred  near  freez- 
ing-point the  snow  fell  as  large  six-rayed  feathery  flakes. 
It  appeared  that  even  at  the  same  temperature,  if  the 
chilling  of  tlie  vapour-laden  ah*  was  more  rapid,  the  snow 
fell  as  tiny  felted  spheres,  one-tenth  of  an  inch  and  more 
in  diameter.  This  we  referred  to  as  sago,  or  tapioca  snow, 
according  to  the  coarseness  of  the  grain.  Snow  falling  in 
colder  conditions,  appears  as  tiny  compact  six-raj'ed 
crystals.  At  times  when  low  temperatures  prevailed,  the 
air  was  filled  Avith  tiny  crystals  of  ice  about  one-hundredth 
of  an  inch  in  diameter  descending  from  a  cloudless  sky. 

Recently  fallen  snow  is  quite  soft,  but  soon  compacts 
itself.  This  may  take  place  in  summer-time  within  a  few 
hours  should  a  cold  period  succeed  a  warmer  one.  A 
piecrust-like  surface  is  produced  in  this  way  where  a  super- 
ficial hardening  of  the  soft  snow  has  preceded,  though 
not  sufficiently  strong  to  support  a  lieavily  laden  sledge. 
Veri'  soon,  however,  the  snow  becomes  more  firmly  bound 
together,  and  the  usual  smooth-sledging  type  of  winter 
snow-ice  surface  is  produced.  What  is  known  as  barrier 
ice  in  the  Antarctic  is  an  immensely  thick  formation  of 
this  compacted  snow  horizontallj'  stratified.  This  is  what 
one  sees  in  the  face  of  the  Ross  Barrier  and  numerous 
other  small  barriers  along  the  coast.  Its  characteristic 
horizontal  surface,  vertical  fractures,  and  dazzling  white- 
ness distinguish  it  from  other  varieties  of  ice  even  at  a 
great  distance.  Nearer  at  hand,  the  stratification  lines, 
appearing  everj'^  few  inches  apart,  are  readily  noticeable. 
Such  barrier  ice  is  really  a  snow-field  afloat  and  may  be 
expected  in  tongue-like  forms  jutting  out  into  the  sea 
at  the  debouchure  of  glaciers,  or  forming  the  clifi's  along 
the  sea-fronts  of  piedmont  glacier-slopes.  The  granules 
increase  in  size  and  are  more  intimately  interlocked  in  the 

356 


PHYSICS 

lower  portions  of  such  formations.  The  tabular  icebergs 
typical  of  the  Antarctic  which  have  originated  by  breaking 
off  from  the  barriers,  are,  owing  to  the  nature  of  their 
formation,  less  dense  and  far  more  buoyant  than  the  trans- 
parent glacier-icebergs  of  the  Arctic.  The  plateau  ice, 
existing  under  conditions  of  great  cold,  sparse  snowfall, 
and  continuous  strong  winds,  is  predominantly  hard.  At 
a  short  distance  below  the  surface  it  is  still  finely  granular, 
but  ver)'  compact.  This  is  seen  where  the  blizzards  have 
abraded  the  superficial  softer  formation  and  exjDosed  the 
deeper  ice  in  channelled  sastrugi;  it  then  resembles  pol- 
ished Carrara  marble.  The  more  typical  glacier-ice  con- 
sists of  interlocking  cr\'stals  an  inch  or  more  in  diameter. 

In  the  vicinity  of  Cape  Royds  there  are  a  number  of 
small  lakes  occupying  rocky  basins.  The  smaller  of  these 
thaw  out  each  year  during  summer,  others  are  only  partly 
thawed,  or  not  at  all.  In  these,  refrigeration  during  the 
autumn  proceeds  under  tranquil  conditions.  As  a  result 
the  ice  appears  prismatic  with  the  longer  axes  of  the 
prisms  parallel  and  vertical.  Winter  snow,  falling  on  this 
surface,  slowly  consolidates,  building  at  the  same  time 
similarly  oriented  additions  to  the  surface  ends  of  the  lake 
ice  prisms.  Should  several  years  succeed  ^vithout  thawing, 
a  most  interesting  structure  is  produced,  the  nature  of 
which  is  made  evident  by  the  subsequent  removal  by  bliz- 
zards of  the  unconsolidated  snow.  It  then  presents  a 
smooth,  pohshed  surface  exhibiting  a  mosaic  appearance, 
produced  by  clear  ice  prisms  separated  by  lines  of  white 
ice  containing  air  cavities. 

As  refrigeration  goes  on  in  the  lakes,  the  saline  con- 
tents are  gradually  concentrated  in  the  residual  liquid  and 
a  continuously  increasing  cold  is  required  to  freeze  each 
succeeding  separation.  Ultimately  a  meshwork  of  ice 
and  cryo-hydrate  crystals  is  formed  at  the  bottom  of  the 

357 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

lakes.  As  some  of  the  lakes  are  very  saline,  this  cryo- 
hydrate  often  bulks  large.  Some  of  it  freezes  at  as  low 
a  temperature  as  50'   Fahr.  below  freezing-point. 

In  the  case  of  sea-ice  the  fii'st  stages  differ  somewhat 
from  those  of  lake-ice.  On  account  of  the  wave  move- 
ments, the  regular  growth  of  vertical  prisms  is  seldom 
possible  in  the  initial  stages.  Instead,  delicate  glancing 
scale-like  crystals  of  ice  form  on  the  surface  and  are  seen 
floating  about,  even  at  the  depth  of  several  feet.  The 
single  scales  are  but  an  inch  or  less  in  diameter,  but  they 
soon  unite  to  form  freely  floating  rosettes.  Eventually, 
as  these  become  more  abundant,  a  complete  felt-work  is 
produced.  In  this  stage  the  ice,  only  one  to  three  inches 
in  thickness,  is  partially  transparent  and  appears  dark, 
as  the  colour  of  the  sea  shows  through  it.  This  ice  is 
peculiarly  flexible.  Unless  a  hea\y  swell  intervenes  the 
ice  is  now  sufficiently  strong  to  hold  together  and  to  aid 
in  maintaining  the  sea  in  a  tranquil  state.  If,  however, 
the  swell  increases,  the  ice  is  broken  into  pieces  of  a  foot 
or  more  in  diameter,  depending  on  its  thickness  at  the 
time.  These  fragments,  jostling  each  other  continuously, 
become  rounded  and  develop  a  turned-up  rim.  This  is 
called  pancake  ice.  Eventually,  with  the  advent  of  calmer 
conditions,  the  pancake  ice  may  be  firmly  frozen  together. 
Crystallisation  now  proceeds  by  additions  from  below. 
Thus,  vertical  prismatic  ice  similar  to  that  found  in  the 
lakes  is  produced.  These  prisms  may  be  half  an  inch  in 
diameter,  and  many  inches  in  length.  A  few  hours  of 
still,  cold  weather  goes  far  to  freeze  over  the  sea.  If, 
however,  the  air  temperature  rises,  the  active  formation 
of  ice  is  suspended,  to  be  resumed  when  the  temperature 
again  falls.  By  a  succession  of  such  variations  in  tem- 
perature a  horizontal  banded  appearance  is  produced  in 
the  sea-ice;  each  band  representing  a  separate  period  of 

358 


PREdStJ  RE-ICE 


Crystals  on  Sea  Ice 


PHYSICS 

refrigeration.  The  lake-ice  often  showed  a  banded  appear- 
ance resembhng  this,  and  the  greater  or  lesser  abundance 
of  air-bubbles  set  free  from  the  frozen  water  and  included 
in  the  ice  is  due  to  a  similar  cause.  The  banding  in  the 
sea-ice  is  due  to  an  alteration  of  more  and  less  opaque 
layers  of  ice,  of  half  an  inch  to  several  inches  in  tWckness. 
The  sea  salt  mechanically  separates  from  the  ice  as  the 
latter  forms  and  is  partially  forced  out  into  the  sea  water 
below,  and  partially  included  in  white  vertical  tracts 
between  the  ice  prisms.  When  the  unfrozen  sea  surface 
is  agitated  by  winds  at  veiy  low  temperatures,  the  spray 
is  apt  to  freeze  as  it  scuds  through  the  air  and  it  falls  back 
as  ice.  In  this  way  the  whole  surface  of  the  sea  may 
assume  a  pea-soup-like  consistency.  Strong  winds,  pro- 
ducing a  swell,  may  break  up  the  solid  sea-ice  and  drive 
it  along  as  a  field  of  separate  floating  masses.  This  is 
termed  pack  ice,  and  may  eventually  become  frozen 
together  as  an  irregular  surface  field  of  ice.  In  cases  of 
this  kind  huge  ice-bergs  are  not  infrequently  found  frozen 
in  amongst  the  smaller  ice.  Where  the  wind  drives  floe 
ice  before  it,  pressui-e  ridges  may  be  formed  by  the  mount- 
ing of  some  of  the  ice  upon  that  in  front ;  fragments  may 
be  piled  up  to  many  feet  in  height,  an  operation  usually 
accompanied  by  a  great  crunching  and  grinding  noise. 

During  the  autumn,  sea  spray,  dashing  on  the  coast, 
remains  behind  as  ice.  Thus  a  huge  ice-foot  develops 
along  the  coast.  Grottoes  are  not  uncommon  in  this  ice- 
foot, resembling  limestone  eaves  of  remarkable  beauty, 
filled  with  stalactites  (up  to  several  feet  in  length),  and 
stalagmites  of  ice.  These  owe  their  origin  largely  to  the 
fact  that  the  more  saline  residual  water  dripping  from  the 
roof  is  further  chilled  by  exposure,  and  thus  continual 
additions  are  made  to  the  formations  from  which  the  drip 
has  taken  place.     The  water  is  highly  saUne  and  stalag- 

359 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

mites  are  produced  only  at  very  low  temperatures,  when 
they  may  consist  entirely  of  crj'^o-hj'drate. 


Additional  Notes  by  JAMES  MURRAY 

SnA-iCE. — When  a  crack  opened  out  to  a  yard  or 
more  in  width  it  was  very  quickly  filled  with  new  ice. 
The  prisms  composing  this  grew  out  horizontally  from 
the  older  ice  at  each  side.  They  were  straight  and  at  right 
angles  to  the  edges  of  the  crack,  except  Avhere  that  was 
abruptl)'  bent  or  curved,  when  the  adjustment  to  the  in- 
fluence of  the  two  sides  of  the  angle  produced  oblique  or 
even  curved  prisms.  Good  photographs  of  this  horizontal 
prismatic  ice  were  obtained. 

Poh'gonal  plates  of  thin  ice  accumulated  round  the 
dredging  hne  when  left  undisturbed  in  the  sea  for  some 
time,  as  previously  noticed  by  Hodgson.  At  Cape  Royds 
this  only  occurred  late  in  the  season,  and  seemed  to  be 
much  less  in  amount  than  at  Hut  Point,  probably  on 
account  of  the  higher  temperatures  which  we  experienced. 

Prismatic  Ice. — It  has  been  explained  (by  ^Mawson) 
how  the  vertical  prismatic  structure  of  the  irregidar  sur- 
faces of  hardened  snow  found  on  the  lakes  has  originated 
in  the  building  up  of  additions  to  the  prisms  of  lake  ice. 
Further  light  on  the  formation  of  prismatic  ice  was 
afforded  by  observations  in  summer  when  he  was  absent. 

The  fresh-water  ice  found  under  tranquil  conditions 
was  clear  and  transparent,  and  the  prismatic  sti-ucture  was 
not  evident.  In  colder  weather  it  became  revealed  as  a 
very  fine  hexagonal  reticulation.  On  the  surface  of  hard- 
ened snow-drifts  prismatic  stiiicture  was  developed  while 
the  lower  layers  of  the  drift  remained  as  snow,  and  there- 
fore independently  of  the  lake  ice  prisms  as  a  foundation. 

The  most  interesting  formation  of  prismatic  structure 

360 


llF.CTANOrLAR    CRYSTALS    ON    TfK 


I«  F    CRVSrALS    FORMED    ON    A    LINK 


PHYSICS 

was  observed  at  Clear  Lake.  On  November  3,  1908,  a 
large  heap  of  cliips  of  ice  were  thrown  out  from  a  shaft. 
The  chips  \\ere  of  hard  clear  ice,  and  of  all  sizes  up  to 
several  inches  in  diameter.  On  February  24,  1909,  it 
was  found  that  prismatic  structure  had  developed  in  the 
heap,  making  it  quite  like  the  general  surface  of  the  lake, 
which  we  supposed  to  have  been  derived  from  snow.  The 
prisms  were  most  distinct  at  the  surface,  while  within  the 
mass  traces  of  the  original  cliips  were  still  visible. 

The  mosaic  design  showing  on  the  surface  of  prismatic 
ice  was  not  uniform,  nor  yet  was  it  irregular.  It  built  up 
patterns,  the  prisms  arranging  themselves  round  centres, 
as  well  shown  in  Professor  David's  photographs.  As  the 
lake  surfaces  were  more  and  more  smoothed  by  ablation 
the  mosaic  changed  in  character.  The  prismatic  structure 
became  less  distinct,  and  at  some  depth  gave  place  to  rows 
of  bubbles  arranged  in  curvilinear  designs,  the  relation  of 
which  to  the  original  hexagonal  mosaic  was  not  apparent. 

About  midwinter  a  curious  optical  effect  was  noticed 
at  Blue  Lake.  The  surface  of  the  lake  was  almost  entirely 
prismatic,  but  had  been  much  smoothed  by  ablation,  and 
was  marked  by  ripples  like  those  of  the  sand  of  the  sea- 
shore, but  much  larger.  On  walking  across  the  lake  the 
moonlight  was  constantly  glancing  apparently  from  very 
large  plane  crystalline  surfaces,  several  inches  in  diameter, 
incHned  at  a  low  angle  to  the  horizontal.  On  touching 
these  spots  it  was  evident  that  there  were  no  large  crystals 
on  the  surface,  but  only  the  smooth-rounded  ripples.  The 
internal  structure  of  vertical  prisms  made  it  unlikely  that 
these  broad  crj'stalline  surfaces  would  exist  within  the  ice. 

In  the  heat  of  summer  the  prismatic  layer  on  the  sur- 
face of  Blue  Lake  became  greatly  eroded,  large  holes  as 
much  as  two  feet  in  depth  being  formed.  Parts  of  the 
lake  were  unsafe  to  walk  on,  the  loosened  prisms  crumbling 
away  under  foot. 

361 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Lakge  Cryst^vls  in  Crevasses 

Similar  crj'stals  to  those  referred  to  elsewhere  by 
]\Iawson,  several  inches  in  diameter,  were  found  in  the 
shafts  sunk  in  the  lakes.  These  were  thin  triangular 
plates,  growhig  from  the  wall,  to  which  they  were  attached, 
sometimes  by  a  side,  sometimes  by  an  angle.  They  were 
regularly  striated  in  lines  parallel  to  one  side.  Some  were 
twinned,  two  series  of  strijE  meeting  in  the  centre  of  a 
symmetrical  plate.  Designs  were  built  up  by  the  growth 
of  new  crystals  from  the  free  edges  of  others,  or  even  from 
angles. 

Ice-flowers  occurred  on  fresh-water  ice  at  Clear  Lake 
and  Blue  Lake.  They  were  on  the  ice  rapidly  and  tran- 
quilly formed  in  the  trenches  sunk  for  the  observation  of 
temperature.  They  were  much  smaller  than  those  on  the 
sea-ice,  being  only  half  an  inch  or  less  in  diameter. 

In  the  height  of  sununer  the  combined  action  of  the 
sun  and  air  on  compacted  snow-drifts  caused  deep  erosion 
of  the  snow.  A  kind  of  stratification  resulted  Avhich 
appeared  to  have  no  relation  to  any  original  stratification 
of  the  snow.  Thin  flat  layers  of  ice  w-ere  formed,  separated 
by  cavities.  These  dipped  at  a  gentle  angle  to  the  south, 
that  is  to  say,  their  edges  were  directed  towards  the  sun 
at  the  time  of  day  when  it  is  highest.  These  ice  plates 
were  so  fragile  that  they  collapsed  in  multitudes  as  we 
Avalked  over  the  drifts,  and  a  slight  breeze  whirled 
quantities  of  them  along,  often  roUing  on  their  edges. 

Temperatures  of  Lake-ice 

During  the  winter  a  series  of  shafts  were  cut  through 
the  ice  of  most  of  the  lakes,  in  order  to  obsen-e  the  tem- 
perature at  different  depths.  The  first  trenches  at  Clear 
Lake  were  the  work  of  the  whole  scientific  staff.     After 

362' 


^^ 


4    " 

4 


Ice  Crystals 
niif  Hpproduction  of  the  Compass  on  the  upper  picture  i^  of  natural  size) 


PHYSICS 

that  the  entire  work  devolved  upon  Priestley  till  the  end 
of  winter.  Then  Brocklehurst  cut  one  in  Blue  Lake 
which  proved  the  deepest  of  all  reaching  water  at  21  ft. 

A  single  series  of  observations  at  each  shaft  was  of 
but  little  value,  especially  as  the  admission  of  air  io  the 
exposed  surfaces  caused  verj-  rapid  changes.    One  shaft  at 


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Temfebatubes  of  Ice  of  Blde  Lake 


Blue  Lake,  in  which  we  had  come  on  solid  bottom  at  a 
depth  of  15  ft.,  was  kept  open  for  five  months,  from  July 
to  December.  Here  periodic  readings  were  taken,  in 
order  to  watch  the  rate  at  which  the  temperature  at  differ- 
ent depths  changed  in  correspondence  with  the  air  tem- 
peratures.   After  some  experience  the  shaft  was  covered 

363 


THE   HEART   OF  THEANTARCTIC 

with  sacking  to  prevent  it  filling  up  with  snow.  This  would 
also  reduce  the  circulation  of  air. 

On  the  Ih-st  day,  when  the  shaft  was  sunk  to  a  depth 
of  5  ft.,  there  was  a  difference  of  23"  between  the  surface 
(minus  21.0°  F.)  and  the  bottom  (plus  2.0°  F.).  When 
the  bottom  at  15  ft.  was  reached  a  week  later  the  whole 
range  from  top  to  bottom  was  26°  (top,  minus  6.0°; 
bottom,  plus  20.0°). 

On  account  of  the  high  temperatures  at  the  bottom  we 
found  these  shafts  very  comfortable  places  to  work  in,  and 
could  lie  down  to  pai'take  of  lunch,  on  a  luxurious  couch 
made  of  ice  chips,  in  perfect  comfort,  when  the  air  was 
down  between  minus  30.0°  and  minus  40.0°. 

Series  of  temperatin'es  were  taken  at  every  2  ft.  in 
depth  daily  for  a  about  a  fortnight.  Afterwards  a  series 
was  taken  once  a  month,  as  we  had  not  time  to  read 
them  oftener. 

In  the  diagram  are  shoAni  the  curves  of  temperature 
for  six  months,  at  one  reading  per  month,  compared  with 
the  curve  of  mean  air  temperature  for  the  four  weeks 
preceding  each  reading  of  the  temperatures  of  the  lake- 
ice. 

The  scale  of  temperature  on  the  left  side  reads  up 
and  down,  from  plus  28.0°  Fahr.  to  minus  20.0°  Fahr. 
The  time  reads  from  left  to  right,  in  months,  July  to 
December.  The  lowest  curve,  drawn  thicker,  is  the  mean 
air  temperatui-e.  The  dotted  line  is  the  surface  tempera- 
ture. The  other  four  hnes  reading  from  below  upward, 
are  the  temperatures  at  4  ft.,  8  ft.,  12  ft.,  and  15  ft. 
(bottom).  The  thin  zigzag  line  is  the  M'eekly  mean  of 
the  air  temperatures.  The  air  curve  is  always  much 
lower.  The  others  maintain  their  relative  positions  pretty 
steadily,  except  the  surface  cui-\'e,  which  fluctuates,  mid 
becomes  highest  of  all  in  December. 

These   curves   show   some    points   of   interest.      The 

364 


PHYSICS 

similarity  and  uniformity  of  all  except  the  surface  curve 
are  remarkable.  We  cannot  build  much  theory  on  such 
curves,  as  the  curves  of  ice-temperature  represent  single 
observations  in  each  month,  while  the  air  curve  is  a  real 
mean  deduced  from  twenty-eight  daily  means.  Still  the 
similar  course  traced  by  each  curve  cannot  be  entirely 
chance.  If  there  were  no  direct  relation  between  the  air 
curve  and  the  others  we  would  expect  greater  differences 
at  different  depths. 

The  monthly  mean  is  selected  as  giving  the  nearest 
estimate  as  to  the  rate  at  which  the  temperatures  within 
the  ice  follow  the  air  temperatures.  The  daily  mean  of 
air  temperature  would  not  be  expected  to  correspond  at 
all  with  the  slower  changes  within  the  ice,  but  the  curve 
was  drawn,  and  fluctuated  extremely.  Then  the  mean 
for  a  week  before  each  observation  was  taken,  also  the 
Aveekly  means  for  the  entire  period,  and  they  showed  no 
obvious  relation  to  the  ice-temperatures.  Even  with  the 
means  for  a  fortnight  before  each  monthly  series  the 
correspondence  is  far  from  close. 

When  the  curve  of  the  monthly  means  is  drawTi  beside 
the  others  it  is  at  once  evident  that  it  takes  a  place  in  the 
series,  but  that  its  range  is  much  greater.  All  the  curves 
converge  steadily  after  August,  and  approximate  very 
closely  in  November  and  December. 

MINERALS  AND  CHEMISTRY 

Notes  by  DOUGLAS  MAWSON,  B.Sc,  B.E. 

A  large  variety  of  minerals,  chiefly  rock-forming 
types,  were  met  with  by  the  expedition.  The  minerals 
included  felspar,  pyroxenes,  amphiboles,  micas,  garnet, 
&c.  Among  the  most  notable  features  was  the  occur- 
rence of  idiomorphic  felspar  crystals  a  couple  of  inches  in 

365 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

length,  found  abundantly  scattered  about  the  old  crater 
of  Erebus.  These  had  apparently  been  expelled  by  the 
explosive  force  of  steam  from  the  molten  lava  in  which 
they  occurred. 

Epidote,  actmolite,  tourmaline  and  calcite  in  the  form 
of  marble,  were  abundantly  developed  in  the  vicinity  of 
Cape  Bernacchi.  In  the  marble  cubes  of  graphite  and 
iron  pyrites,  together  with  some  tetrahedra  of  copper 
pyrites,  were  observed.  In  a  moraine  in  this  vicinity  also 
a  boulder  of  reef  quartz  containing  iron  pyrites  was 
observed.  Xatrolite  was  found  in  seams  in  boulders  of 
basic  lava  in  a  moraine  near  Mount  Larsen.  Titanium 
minerals  appeared  to  be  abundant  in  the  eruptive  rocks 
and  schists  met  with  between  Granite  Harbour  and 
IMount  Larsen. 

An  important  occurrence  of  mirabilite  near  Cape 
Barne  was  noted  by  Priestley.  This  he  found  in  rough 
masses  several  pounds  in  weight  piled  up  at  the  northern 
end  of  one  of  the  lakes.  It  is  at  a  situation  some  height 
above  the  present  lake  level,  but  no  doubt  owes  its  origin 
to  salts  originally  contained  in  the  lake  water.  Gypsum 
was  found  by  Joyce  in  fissures  amongst  the  kenyte  at 
the  Penguin  Rookery,  Cape  Royds.  Mixtures  of  mag- 
nesium and  and  sodium  sidphates,  apparently  originally 
derived  from  the  sea,  are  to  be  found  under  most  of  the 
loose  stones  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cape  Royds.  Sea 
spray  and  blown  saline  snow  has  no  doubt  carried  these 
salts  to  their  present  resting-place. 


Ice  Chystals  formed  on  tue  line  of  a  fi3H  trap 


OPTICS 
METEOROLOGICAL  OPTICS 

Notes  by  DOUGLAS    MAWSON,  B.Sc.  B.E. 

JMlRAGE. 

Wonderful  exhibitions  of  mirage  were  of  daily  occur- 
rence, especially  in  the  early  morning  hours.  In  summer 
time,  travelling  over  the  sea-ice  on  the  Magnetic  Pole 
journey,  it  was  usually  impossible  to  make  theodolite 
observations  between  the  hours  of  1  a.m.  and  6  a.m.  on 
account  of  the  extreme  distortion  of  distant  objects  due 
to  mirage  effects.  This  was  attributable  to  the  fact  that, 
at  about  this  hour,  a  large  body  of  cold  dense  air  descends 
from  the  great  plateau  of  South  Victoria  Land,  flowing 
down  the  glacier  Aalleys  and  minghng  with  the  warmer 
air  over  the  sea-ice.  For  the  same  reason  the  western 
mountains  obserAcd  from  Cape  Royds,  always  loomed 
larger  in  the  early  morning.  Distant  capes  viewed  over 
the  open  water  often  appeared  to  be  hung  up  in  the  sky. 

The  type  of  illusion  known  as  Fata  Morgana  was  of 
very  frequent  occurrence  in  the  case  of  distant  floating 
ice  rafts;  the  warmer  stratum  of  the  air  in  proximity  to 
the  sea  causing  the  slight  irregulai'ities  on  the  ice  surface 
to  appear  as  lofty  pinnacles. 

Rings  and  Crosses  Round  the  Sxin  and  Moon 

These  phenomena,  proceeding  from  the  refraction  of 
the  light  of  the  sun  and  moon,  were  numerous  and  varied. 
Both  large  and  small  rings  were  observed.  Usually  only 
those  portions  of  the  ring  appeared  which  neighboured  on 
the  horizontal  line  through  the  sun  or  moon,  normal  to 
the  line  of  sight.  Parheha  and  parselene  of  this  kind  were 
of  common  occurrence. 

367 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

In  summer-time  on  the  plateau  we  observed  the  most 
comi^licated  and  gorgeous  phenomena  of  this  kind. 
These  were  always  best  seen  through  coloured  glasses. 

During  the  winter  a  fine  example  of  a  parselene 
appeared  between  us  and  Mount  Erebus.  The  image  must 
have  been  formed  Avithin  a  mile  or  two  of  us. 

In  winter  when  the  atmosphere  was  cold,  clear  and 
still,  similar  rings  could  be  artificially  formed  near  the  face 
by  breathing  towards  the  moon.  The  moisture  in  the 
breath  freezes  instantly  on  leaving  the  body,  and  the 
optical  effect  is  produced  in  the  cloud  of  tiny  floating 
ice  particles. 

Rings,  coloured  hke  the  rainbow,  closely  investing  the 
moon,  were  of  frequent  occurrence  during  the  winter 
night.  On  one  occasion  a  magnificent  exhibition  of  this 
kind  appeared  as  a  series  of  three  coloured  rings;  that 
nearest  the  moon  showed  the  colours  of  the  first  order 
in  Newton's  scale;  the  second  and  third  rings  showed 
the  second  and  third  orders  respectively.  The  effect  was 
similar  to  that  seen  when  viewing  a  uniaxial  crystal  in 
convergent  polarised  light  along  the  principal  axis. 

Other  Coloue  Effects 

At  certain  periods  of  the  year  certain  clouds  are  seen 
very  brightly  coloured.  This  colouring  is  strong,  and  all 
the  colours  of  Newton's  scale  are  seen  as  in  the  rainbow. 
This  succession  of  colours  increases  in  a  direction  away 
from  the  sun.  The  orders  of  colour  increase  successively 
with  a  corresponding  reduction  in  distinctiveness,  until 
too  faint  for  observation.  An  isolated  patch  of  cloud 
illuminated  in  this  way  resembles  a  fragment  of  a  mineral 
like  olivine  viewed  through  an  analyser  under  polarised 
light.     This  phenomenon  was  strongly  shown  only  for 

368 


OPTICS 

the  few  days  preceding  the  departure  and  the  arrival  of 
the  sun  respectively  before  and  after  the  winter  night. 

Especially  at  the  intermediate  seasons  of  the  year  the 
advent  and  departure  of  the  sun  each  day  was  accompanied 
by  prismatic  sunset  and  sunrise  effects.  Mount  Erebus 
was  often  bathed  in  a  delicate  pink  light. 

Purple  lights  are  apt  to  be  produced  on  snow  surfaces 
when  obliquely  lighted. 

Cavities  in  snow  formations  appear  of  a  wonderful 
azure  blue  colour.  Those  in  ice,  on  the  other  hand,  appear 
bluish-green,  or  greenish. 

Earth  Shadows 

The  earth  shadows,  or  dark  shadow  bands  crossing  the 
sky,  seen  when  the  sun  is  very  low  on  the  horizon,  were 
observed  in  a  variety  of  forms.  Some  of  these  certainly 
bore  a  relation  to  the  relative  positions  of  Mount  Erebus 
and  the  sun.  When  on  top  of  INIount  Erebus  we  remarked 
the  great  conical  shadow  it  threw  at  sunrise  over  ISIclNIurdo 
Sound  and  even  as  far  as  the  western  mountains.  It  was 
noted  later  on  that  a  relationship  existed  between  some 
of  the  earth  shadows  seen  in  the  sky  from  Cape  Royds 
and  this  conical  shadow  of  Erebus. 

Other  forms  of  the  shadows  are  not  so  easily  explained. 
On  one  occasion  when  the  sun  was  low  on  the  northern 
horizon  near  noon,  just  after  its  return,  we  observed  the 
sky  overhead  crossed  by  six  parallel  earth  shadow  beams, 
directed  from  the  sun  supplying  a  Noah's  Ark  appearance. 


Vol.  II.-24 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Additional  Notes  by  JAMES  MURRAY 

The  sun,  prime  source  of  all  the  optical  phenomena 
referred  to,  was  seen  for  the  last  time  before  the  long 
winter  night  on  April  27,  1908.  One-third  of  its  disc  was 
above  the  horizon  at  noon.  It  was  again  seen  for  the  first 
time  on  August  17,  1908.  The  entire  disc  was  above  the 
horizon,  and  the  bottom  edge  one  quarter  of  the  diameter 
from  the  horizon,  so  that  it  could  probably  have  been 
seen  a  day  or  so  earlier  if  the  weather  had  been  clear. 
The  long  night  was  therefore  of  111  days  (or  less) .  It  is 
supposed  that  the  night  at  latitude  77^  30'  considered 
astronomically,  should  be  several  days  longer,  and  that  the 
sun  was  seen  later  and  earlier  on  account  of  refraction. 

The  limits  of  the  long  day  could  not  be  so  readily 
determined  (by  observation)  as  the  sun  went  behind  the 
mountains.  The  first  year  we  had  only  a  small  part  of 
the  long  day,  and  we  supposed  that  the  sun  began  to  set 
on  February  22,  the  day  the  Nimrod  left  us.  The  second 
year  we  experienced  the  entire  long  day,  from  about 
October  17  to  about  February  22. 

There  was  perpetual  daylight  on  each  side  of  the  long 
day  for  several  weeks,  and  similarly  the  long  night  was 
tempered  by  very  good  twilight  during  the  day  for  some 
weeks  at  the  beginning  and  end. 

Some  of  the  most  striking  optical  phenomena,  as  the 
earth  shadows,  iridescent  clouds,  &c.,  were  only  exhibited 
during  the  short  periods  when  the  sun  rose  and  set  each 
day.  Others,  like  the  prismatic  sunrises  and  sunsets,  con- 
tinued long  into  the  night. 

In  addition  to  the  optical  effects  familiar  in  polar 
regions,  such  as  mock  suns  and  moons,  halos  and  crosses, 
there  were  observed  a  number  of  optical  phenomena  which 
are  not  so  well  known. 

370 


OPTICS 

Several  of  these  (the  prismatic  sunsets  and  sunrises, 
the  curved  earth-shadows,  and  the  arched  ice-bhnk  of  the 
Barrier)  are  characterised  by  their  arched  form,  their 
upper  boundary  being  an  arc  of  a  great  circle. 

PeISMATIC  SuNEISES  and  StTNSETS 

The  phenomenon  to  which  we  gave  this  name  consisted 
in  a  high  arch,  coloured  in  bands  hke  the  solar  sijcctrum, 
which  appeared  in  the  sky  opposite  to  the  sun,  before  sun- 
rise and  after  sunset.    It  was  of  daily  occurrence  in  clear 


Diagram  of  Prismatic  Arch,  March  13 


weather,  during  the  whole  of  the  two  periods  w-hen  the  sun 
was  rising  and  setting.  Even  during  the  long  night  it 
was  common  at  noon  for  nearly  a  month  after  the  sun 
had  set,  and  it  recommenced  a  month  before  the  sun 
reappeared. 

371 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

It  began  instantly  when  the  sun  set  and  got  higher 
as  the  sun  sank  further  below  the  horizon,  at  least  it 
appeared  so,  perhaps  through  the  arch  becoming  more 
distinct  as  the  darkness  deepened.  Some  low  arclies  which 
were  measured  were  25°  and  30"  above  the  horizon,  and  it 
was  estimated  that  at  its  highest  the  arch  reached  to  45°. 
Round  the  horizon  it  extended  for  about  90°  or  more. 

The  accompanying  figure  gives  an  idea  of  its  size  and 
of  the  breadth  of  the  bands  of  colour. 

Though  the  rainbow  colours  are  unmistakable,  the 
bands  are  very  delicate,  and  their  limits,  as  well  as  the 
boundary  of  the  A\hole  arch,  are  very  obscure,  though  the 
latter  is  clearly  a  circular  arc.  The  number  of  colours 
which  can  be  distinguished  by  the  eye  varies  with  the 
distinctness  of  the  display,  and  with  the  height  of  the  arch. 
In  a  low  arch  usually  only  two  bands  were  visible,  a  lower 
one  of  slaty  blue  (greenish  quite  close  to  the  horizon), 
and  a  liigher  one  of  purple.  When  the  arch  was  high, 
other  colours  could  be  distinguished.  The  order  of  their 
arrangement  is  here  given  as  they  appeared,  without  bias 
as  to  the  correct  order  in  a  solar  spectnmi.  On  JNIarch  13, 
1908,  the  colours  noted  were  (reckoning  from  the  horizon 
upwards)  pale  blue,  violet,  orange,  yellow,  fading  at  the 
outer  edge  with  i^ale  greenish  blue.  On  April  7,  at  7  a.m., 
the  colours  distinguished  were  slaty  blue,  purple,  pink,  red, 
orange,  yellow,  greenish-blue.  Xo  doubt  these  colours 
were  affected  by  atmospheric  conditions,  and  by  the  colour 
of  clouds  in  the  background,  for  the  arch  could  often  be 
seen  against  clouds. 

Apparently  the  colours  were  not  concentric  bands,  but 
those  near  the  horizon  formed  arcs  of  larger  circles  than 
the  upper  ones.  If  not  so  the  blue  and  purple  bands 
would  be  verv'  small,  but  they  have  really  the  greatest 
horizontal  extension.    Sometimes  the  reds  and  yellows  did 

372 


OPTICS 

not  appear  to  form  arched  bands  like  the  lower  colours, 
but  were  limited  to  an  elliptical  area,  as  indicated  by 
dotted  lines  in  the  diagram. 

On  October  2  the  blue  zone  rose  to  15°  above  the 
horizon,  and  the  purple  zone  to  25°. 

In  all  cases  the  whole  arch,  from  the  summit  to  the 
horizon,  was  filled  with  bands  of  colour,  thereby  differing 
from  rainbows  and  halos. 

Simultaneously  with  the  appearance  of  a  prismatic 
arch,  opposite  to  the  sun  there  were  frequently  to  be  seen, 
over  the  sun's  position,  brilliant  sunset  colours,  which  also 
formed  an  arch  in  which  the  colours  were  in  inverse  order 
to  those  of  the  prismatic  arch,  ranging  from  orange  at 
the  horizon,  through  yellow  and  green  to  blue.  The  bands 
were  less  distinct  than  in  the  prismatic  arch,  but  the  colours 
were  much  brighter.  Tlie  prismatic  arch  often  occurred 
without  tliis  complementary  display  being  visible.  Though 
not  confined  to  the  Antarctic  region  this  phenomenon 
appears  to  be  exceptionally  distinct  and  frequent  there. 

Ice-blink 

The  ice-blink  of  the  Great  Barrier,  viewed  from  some 
little  distance,  was  alwaj-s  in  the  form  of  a  low  arch.  On 
January'  27  and  28,  1908,  we  coasted  the  Barrier  all  day 
long,  but  out  of  sight  of  it.  All  the  time  the  arched  ice- 
blink accompanied  us,  unvarying  except  in  height  as  we 
receded  or  apiDroached,  and  apparently  always  bounded 
by  a  true  circular  arc.  When  close  in  to  the  Barrier  the 
white  glare  seemed  to  penetrate  to  a  very  hmited  distance 
through  the  air,  which  was  unaffected  at  a  higher  level. 


THE   HEART  OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

Mock  Suns  and  Moons,  &c. 

No  illustrations  are  available  of  the  more  complicated 
displays  of  this  kind  observed  on  the  western  plateau. 
There  are  some  sketches  of  the  simpler  occurrences  wit- 
nessed at  Cape  Royds.  JNIost  commonly  there  were  simply 
two  bright  patches  equi-distant  on  each  side  of  the  sun  or 
moon.     These  were  not  round  mock  suns  and  moons,  as 


Lunar  Halo,  Bright  Patches  and  Beau,  June  12 


frequently  reported  in  the  arctic  regions,  but  were  bits 
of  a  ring  concentric  with  the  sun  or  moon.  Less  frequently 
a  similar  patch  was  visible  right  over  the  sun  or  moon. 
Generally  the  ring  connecting  these  patches  could  not  be 
seen,  but  occasionally  it  was  visible,  and  on  June  12  there 
was  a  complete  ring  round  the  moon,  accompanied  by  the 
three  bright  patches,  and  the  lower  part  of  the  ring  was 
between  the  observers  and  IVIount  Erebus.  All  these  parts, 

374 


OPTICS 

which  are  associated  alike  with  sun  and  moon,  are  shown 
in  the  figure.  There  is  an  additional  vertical  beam  shown. 
After  the  lateral  sun-dogs  the  commonest  phenomenon 
was  tliis  vertical  beam  of  light,  wliich  rose  from  the  sun 
or  moon,  and  passed  beyond  the  ring,  if  one  were  present. 
In  the  case  of  the  sun  the  beam  of  light  was  yellow,  that 
from  the  moon  was  often  decidedly  red.  It  could  not 
readily  be  seen  when  the  whole  disc  was  in  sight,  but  often 


Inverted  Rings  Round  the  Scn,  Februaht  7,  1909 


the  yellow  beam  was  seen  rising  from  behind  a  hill,  the 
sun  itself  being  entirely  hidden.  It  could  never  be  traced 
below  the  sun  or  moon,  and  we  have  no  notes  of  a  hori- 
zontal beam  of  the  same  kind. 

A  complete  halo  round  the  sun  or  moon  was  usually 
of  uniform  brightness,  without  brighter  spots  or  straight 
beams. 

On  February  7,  1909,  there  were  seen  portions  of 
convex  towards  the  sun.  The  one  over  the 
375 


three  rings 


THE  HEART  OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

sun  was  nearly  in  the  zenith,  and  more  than  an  eigth  part 
of  the  circle  was  visible.  The  lateral  ones  were  quite 
short,  and  like  the  ordinary  sun-dogs,  but  the  centres  of 
the  circles  away  from  the  sun.  Tliis  display  is  here 
figured. 

The  iridescent  colours  of  these  sun-dogs  were  not 
disposed  in  broad  bands  as  in  the  rainbow,  but  in  a 
succession  of  minute  coloured  streaks,  each  repeating  all 
the  colours,  and  concentric  with  the  whole  ring. 

Rainbow 

On  December  22  the  only  rainbow  was  seen,  that  is 
to  say  there  was  a  bow  in  the  sky  opposite  to  the  sun,  and 
rather  less  than  a  semicircle.  It  was  visible  from  10.30 
P.M.  to  near  mid-night,  and  was  therefore  approximately 
in  the  north.  It  was  like  a  moon  rainbow  in  the  faintness 
of  the  colours.  It  looked  simply  like  a  lighter  streak  amid 
the  slight  haze  wliich  prevailed.  Some  of  those  who  saw  it 
could  distinguish  a  faint  red  band  on  the  outer  side  of  the 
bow,  others  could  only  distinguish  a  pale  yellow  and  a 
paler  green  towards  the  outside.  There  was  a  deep  band 
on  the  inside,  of  pale  bluish  or  purple.  It  appeared  quite 
near,  coming  down  in  front  of  hills  which  were  less  than 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  away.  The  essential  difference  be- 
tween such  a  bow  as  this,  and  the  prismatic  arch  seen  at 
sunrise  and  sunset,  is  that  it  is  a  band  of  narrow  limits, 
while  the  spectrum  of  the  other  extends  from  the  top  of 
the  arch  down  to  the  horizon. 

iRroEscENT  Clouds 

The  sketch  is  intended  to  show  the  bands  of  colour 
(vivid  purple,  orange,  green,  &c.)  on  the  margins  of  the 
cloud,  and  the  central  patch.     Each  cloud  has  a  broad 

376 


OPTICS 

central  tract  of  deep  clear  blue,  which  looks  exactly  like 
a  bit  of  ordinaiy  blue  sky,  seen  tlirough  a  gap  in  the 
cloud.  A  great  bank  of  grey  stratus  passing  behind  the 
wisps  of  illuminated  cloud,  proved  that  there  was  no  blue 
sky  present. 

The  colours  of  the  iridescent  clouds  were  brighter  than 
in  any  of  the  other  phenomena  of  the  same  class,  such 
as  the  prismatic  sunrises  and  sunsets.  They  were  brighter 
than  any  rainbow  and  only  to  be  compared  with  the 
spectrum  of  sunlight  shown  by  a  glass  prism. 


Iridescent  Clouds,  August  22 


Earth  Shadows 

The  name  is  that  used  by  Captain  Scott,  though  per- 
haps their  appearance  may  be  better  suggested  if  they 
were  called  aerial  shadows.  These  shadows  appear  to  be 
generally  from  mountain  peaks,  but  their  source  is  often 
hidden.     They  most  commonly  take  the  form  of  straight 

377 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 


Eabth  Shadows,  April  12 


bands  projected  from  the  mountain  into  the  clear  atmo- 
sphere  (their  visibility  in  wliich  may  be  associated  with 


CtJRVED  Line  Joining  Erebus  Summit  and  its  shadow  on  the 
Western  Mountains,  April  12 

the  presence  of  invisible  particles  of  ice).  These  bands 
are  in  the  beginning  sufficiently  darker  than  the  sky  to 
be  called  shadows,  but  they  fade  out  upwards  till  there 

378 


OPTICS 

remains  merely  a  fine  line  which  cannot  be  called  either 
lighter  or  darker  than  the  sky. 

The  figure  shows  one  of  the  first  of  these  shadows 
noticed  on  the  western  mountains,  April  12,  1908.  Two 
bands  rose  up  at  different  angles.  As  the  sun  went  round 
the  band  on  the  left  became  more  nearly  horizontal,  the 
other  went   steeper,   keeping   the   same  relation   to   one 


Eartb  Shadows,  Octobeb  15 

another.  The  hne  on  the  left  could  be  traced  \\-ithout 
interruption  to  the  summit  of  Erebus  as  shown  in  the 
next  figure,  that  on  the  right  died  out  altogether.  The 
line  on  the  left  was  curved,  but  the  fact  was  not  remarked 
upon  at  the  time. 


Shadows  feom  Moxjnt  Erebus 

The  most  remarkable  "  shadows  "   were  those   from 
Erebus.    As  early  as  April  12,  1908,  we  noticed  that  the 

379 


THE   HEART  OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

two  shadows  rising  from  JSlount  Lister  joined  the  ordinary 
shadow  of  Erebus  cast  upon  the  foot-hills  of  Lister. 
There  was  at  that  time  no  suggestion  made  as  to  the 
nature  of  these  shadows,  and  it  was  not  till  later  detected 
that  some  of  them  were  not  straight. 

On  September  2  the  curious  curved  "  shadow  "  was 
first  noticed,  and  was  afterwards  observed  frequently. 


Earth  SHAnowe,  September  17 

To  illustrate  this  remarkable  "  shadow  "  it  is  necessary 
to  make  a  diagram  in  which  perspective  is  everj'Avhere 
violated.  When  looldng  at  the  shadow  on  IMount  Lister, 
Erebus  was  almost  behind  us,  and  the  whole  curve  could 
only  be  seen  by  turning  the  head. 

In  the  picture  both  mountains  are  sho^Ti,  Erebus  on 
the  left,  Ijister  on  the  right.  The  shadow  of  Erebus  falls 
up  on  Lister,  and  the  curved  line  joins  them,  broaden- 
ing out  near  each  end.     In  the  foreground  is  outlined 

380 


*        A  Photooraph  of  thk  Ai'rora.  Adstrvlis.     The  Lights  in  the  Sky  indicate  the  Position 

OF  the  Streamers 


OPTICS 

Flagstaff  Point,  Cape  Royds,  near  which  the  observer 
stood. 

While  the  broad  ends  of  these  curved  "  shadows  "  are 
appreciably  darker  than  the  sky,  the  central  portion  is 
different.  It  is  an  exceedingly  fine  line,  neither  lighter 
nor  darker  than  the  sky  above  and  below,  yet  perfectly 
well  defined.  In  some  instances  the  darker  ends  have  a 
bright  line  outside,  and  a  blue  zone  inside,  which  broadens 
at  the  ends.  Usually  the  observer  was  in  the  shadow 
of  Erebus  when  these  effects  were  seen,  but  similar 
shadows  could  be  detected  from  the  outside,  as  on 
September  29,  when  a  curved  shadow  crossed  the  Ferrar 
Glacier,  low  down,  the  sun  being  in  the  south-east.  On 
the  same  day  the  curved  shadow  from  Erebus  was 
measured,  30°  above  the  horizon  (to  the  north).  On  this 
occasion  it  did  not  reach  to  the  mountains,  but  ended  on 
the  sea  ice. 

The  two  previous  figures  show  shadows  from  Erebus. 
The  following  one  shows  three  peaks  of  tlie  western 
mountains,  with  shadows  projected  from  them,  the  sun 
being  behind  them. 

Almost  as  puzzhng  as  the  curved  "  shadows  "  are  those 
instances  when  several  of  the  shadows  diverge  from  one 
point  as  shown  in  the  figure  below.  On  this  occasion  the 
sun  was  behind  the  observer. 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

MAGNETIC  OBSERVATIONS 
THE  MAGNETIC  POLE  AND  THE  AURORA 

Notes  by  DOUGLAS  MAWSON,  B.Sc,  B.E. 

There  are  two*  localities  where  the  lines  of  magnetic 
force  stand  perpendicular  to  the  earth's  surface.  One  of 
these  is  situated  in  the  Northern  Hemisphere  to  the  north- 
west of  Hudson  Bay  and  is  called  the  North  ^lagnetic 
Pole;  the  other,  in  the  Southern  Hemisphere,  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  South  Victoria  Land,  is  known  as  the  South 
Magnetic  Pole. 

The  lines  of  magnetic  force  are  imaginary  lines  passing 
through  any  place  in  the  direction  along  which  a  freely 
suspended  magnet  will  align  itself.  In  the  vicinity  of  the 
magnetic  poles  such  a  magnet  stands  vertically  and  at 
intermediate  positions  assumes  an  angle  intermediate  be- 
tween a  vertical  and  a  horizontal  position.  The  south- 
seeking  end  of  the  magnet  dips  do^^Tlwards  and  is  attracted 
towards  the  South  jNIagnetic  Pole  in  the  Southern  Hemi- 
sj^here,  whilst  in  the  Northern  Hemisphere  it  is  the  north- 
seeking  end  of  the  magnet  which  dips. 

JNIagnets  mounted  as  compasses  are  balanced  on  a 
vertical  pivot  and  consequently  they  are  free  to  swing 
in  a  horizontal  circle  only.  They  are  controlled  by  the 
horizontal  components  of  the  earth's  magnetic  force  at  the 
spot  where  any  obsei-vations  is  made  and  consequently, 
if  used  at  the  magnetic  poles,  where  the  whole  of  the 
magnetic  force  is  vertical,  they  are  unaffected  and  useless. 

*  Observations  of  dip  in  the  Northern  Hemisphere  indicate  the 
existence  of  two  magnetic  poles  of  unequal  strength.  The  stronger  of 
these  is  regarded  as  the  North  Magnetic  Pole,  the  other  is  situated 
in  Siberia  and  is  generally  referred  to  as  the  Asiatic  focus. 

382 


MAGNETISM 

The  dip  circle  is  the  instrument  used  for  measuring  the 
vertical  component  of  magnetic  force,  and  consequently 
it  is  a  very  important  instrument  in  the  polar  regions.  It 
consists  of  a  magnetised  needle  swinging  on  a  horizontal 
axis,  and  the  readings  are  taken  in  degrees  from  the 
vertical. 

The  magnetic  poles,  or  ends  of  the  magnetic  axis  of 
the  earth,  do  not  bear  any  necessary  relation  to  the 
geographical  poles,  which  are  the  extremities  of  the  rota- 
tion axis  of  the  earth.  They  are  not  diametral,  but  are 
unsymmetricaUy  placed.  In  this  connection  one  authority 
says :  "  In  natural  magnets  the  points  at  which  attraction 
takes  place,  otherwise  called  poles,  are  generally  unsym- 
metricaUy placed  and  depend  entirely  on  the  internal 
structure  of  the  magnet  as  well  as  on  the  irregularities 
of  its  surface." 

The  magnetic  poles  are  not  fixed  spots  but  are  con- 
stantly travelling  onward,  executing  an  unkno^Ti  path 
and  apparently  completing  a  cycle  in  a  period  of  many 
hundreds  of  years.  Besides  tliis  onward  movement  of  a 
few  miles  per  year,  there  is  a  lesser  daily  oscillation.  The 
North  Magnetic  Pole  was  reached  in  1831  by  Sir  James 
Clark  Ross,  who  afterwards  visited  the  Antarctic  in  the 
hope  of  securing  the  double  event,  but  he  was  successful 
only  in  locating  the  South  Magnetic  Pole  by  observations 
made  on  his  sliip  at  a  distance.  In  the  interval  between 
1841,  when  these  observations  were  made,  and  1902,  when 
the  Discovery  expedition  again  located  the  South  ^Nlag- 
netic  Pole,  it  had  moved  about  two  hundred  geographical 
miles  to  the  eastward. 

Observations  of  magnetic  declination  and  dip  were 
taken  at  intervals  along  the  route  to  the  South  ^Magnetic 
Pole.  Those  taken  on  the  coast,  when  compared  with 
values  determined  by  the  Discovery  expedition,  indicate 
that  the  magnetic  pole  has,  in  the  interval,  moved  in  a 

383 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

northerly  and  westerly  direction.  This  fact  was  further 
ascertained  by  actually  sledging  inland  f  I'oni  the  Drygalski 
Barrier,  following  as  nearly  as  possible  the  magnetic 
meridian,  until  the  dip  readings  showed  approximate 
verticality.  Here  the  flag  was  hoisted.  The  determination 
of  the  exact  centre  of  the  magnetic  polar  area  could  not 
be  made  on  the  spot,  as  it  would  involve  a  large  number 
of  readings  taken  at  positions  surrounding  the  Pole.  The 
execution  of  such  observations  under  conditions  of  such 
low  temperature  and  prevalent  high  winds  is  a  matter  of 
very  great  difficulty,  and  when  it  is  borne  in  mind  that 
many  days  would  be  necessary  for  the  operations,  the 
impossibility  of  such  a  course  for  sledging-parties  such  as 
ours  is  obvious. 

The  Aurora  Australis 

The  aurora  was  first  observed  during  the  evening  of 
March  26,  1908.  Earlier  in  the  season  the  daylight  over- 
powered the  light  of  the  aurora,  and  therefore  observa- 
tions were  not  possible.  After  October  4,  1908,  hkewise, 
observations  were  not  possible  on  account  of  the  continu- 
ous daylight.  Nevertheless,  the  aurora  was  probably  in 
the  heavens  during  the  summer-time,  as  observations  made 
b}"  the  ship's  party  in  lower  latitudes  showed.  As  the 
Nimrod  travelled  north  into  regions  where  dark  nights 
prevailed,  auroral  displays  were  observed  both  in  the  latter 
part  of  February  1908  and  early  in  IMarch  1909.  Between 
the  dates  of  JNIarch  26  and  October  4  scarcely  twenty- 
four  hours  passed  without  some  display.  At  times  the 
auroral  lights  were  present  in  the  heavens  for  many  days 
together,  though  of  course  at  full  moon  the  brilliancy  of 
the  hght  obscured  the  more  delicate  auroral  effects.  Cer- 
tain hours  of  the  day  were  attended  by  greater  displays 
than  others.     About  half-past  seven  in  the  evening'  a 

384 


MAGNETISM 

brilliant  display  was  to  be  expected  and  this  continued 
with  little  reduction  in  intensity  throughout  the  evening 
hours.  The  effect  increased  in  brilliancy  at  about  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  died  away  towards  7  a.m. 
At  one  period  of  the  year  we  experienced  bright  aurorEe 
frequently  about  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Very 
little  colour  was  observed  in  connection  with  these  auror^e 
other  than  the  usual  yellowish-green  tints,  but  at  some 
times  the  luminosity  showed  yellower  than  at  others.  In 
some  of  the  most  brilUant  displays  tlie  curtains  were 
bordered  below  by  a  narrow  zone  of  deep  crimson  colour. 
The  displays  were  usually  in  the  form  of  arches,  which 
showed  minor  convolutions  and  appeared  as  beautifully 
draped  curtains.  These  were  sharply  defined  below  but 
merged  insensibly  into  the  heavens  above;  their  depth 
appears  to  have  been  many  thousands  of  feet.  Besides 
the  curtain  aurorje,  diffused  nebulous  lights  were  fre- 
quently observed,  often  in  connection  with  clouds.  On 
still  cold  evenings  a  faintly  luminous  mist  enveloped  Ross 
Island,  and  tliis  seemed  to  have  some  connection  with  the 
nebulous  aurorje.  In  fact,  very  early  in  the  winter  a 
nebulous  type  of  aurora  was  seen  on  one  occasion  to 
descend  between  us  and  the  slopes  of  Erebus,  apparently 
only  about  five  or  six  thousand  feet  in  height  above  us. 

When  at  their  greatest  brilliancy  the  displays  were 
powerful  enough  to  throw  shadows  but  were  yet  insuffi- 
ciently strong  to  allow  of  their  being  photographed.  We 
obtained  impressions  on  photographic  plates  after  about 
ten  minutes'  exposure,  but  as  the  curtains  had  altered  their 
shape  during  the  interval,  the  result  was  of  httle  value. 
With  regard  to  the  curtain  aurors,  when  once  outhned 
in  the  sky  they  experienced  spasmodic  kindling,  the  waves 
of  light  travelling  usually  in  one  definite  direction.  This 
has  the  effect  of  producing  to  the  eye  the  appearance  of 

Vol.  U.— 25  385 


THE   HEART  OF   THE  ANTARCTIC 

ripples  of  luminescence  traversing  the  curtain  at  a  very 
rapid  rate.  The  curtains,  as  a  whole,  slowly  drift  in  a 
determined  direction,  generally  towards  the  magnetic  pole. 
The  displays,  however,  were  very  seldom  obser\ed  in  that 
part  of  the  heavens  situated  towards  the  magnetic  pole; 
they  usually  appeared  in  the  north,  through  east  to  south. 
The  arches  sometimes  travelled  towards  us  from  the  south- 
east. Observations  of  electric  potential  showed  nothing 
remarkable  during  displays  of  the  aurora. 

I  am  informed  by  the  Chief  of  the  Telegraph  Depart- 
ment of  South  Austraha  that  during  September  12,  1908, 
the  telegraph  lines,  both  north  and  south  and  east  and 
west  across  Australia,  were  much  affected  by  earth  cur- 
rents. At  the  same  time  we  experienced  considerable 
auroral  displays.  Since  then,  on  May  14  and  15,  1909, 
the  same  authority  reports  further  disturbed  earth  cur- 
rents, and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  brilliant  auroral 
displays  were  observed  in  the  Southern  Indian  Ocean  by 
a  passing  steamer. 

NOTES  ON  THE  AURORA  AUSTRALIS 

By  JAMES  MURRAY 

The  different  forms  exhibited  by  the  aurora  could  be 
much  better  understood  from  a  few  pictures  than  from 
much  description.  To  depict  the  delicate  and  evanescent 
beams  of  auroral  light  by  harsh  black  lines  is  verj'^  un- 
satisfactory, but  as  some  illustration  is  desirable,  these 
sketches  attempt  to  give  the  general  forms.  Marston's 
coloured  picture  gives  a  good  idea  of  a  curtain  aurora. 

Curtain  Aurora. — At  Cape  Royds  this  was  by  far 
the  commonest  type  of  aurora.  It  consists  of  broad 
ribbon-like  bands  made  up  of  transverse  parallel  fibres.  It 
hangs  in  folds  like  those  assumed  by  heavy  drapery,  and 
looks  very  like  the  fringe  of  separate  threads  bordering 

386 


MAGNETISM 

a  curtain.     The  folds  and  convolutions  of  these  curtains 
are  sometimes  verj'  complicated,  as  shown  in  the  figure. 

The  jjicture  shows  part  of  a  magnificent  display  of 
curtain  aurora,  which  was  seen  on  April  28,  1908.  The 
whole  sky  was  covered  by  a  series  of  curtains,  from  horizon 
to  zenith,  Avith  very  little  blank  space.  The  curtains  were 
much  folded  and  convoluted.  Similar  displays  occurred 
on  May  24,  and  on  several  other  occasions. 


Part  of  Cuhtain  Display,  April  28 


Sometimes  a  single  curtain  formed  a  complete  band, 
more  or  less  folded,  which  usually  encircled  the  summit  of 
IMount  Erebus  at  some  distance.  Such  a  band  is  shown  in 
the  figure  of  the  aurora  of  ISIay  26. 

Similar  complete  rings  occurred  which  did  not  go 
behind  the  mountain. 

Curtains  sometimes  had  the  beams  separated,  or  little 
groups  of  beams  separated  from  one  another.    These  were 

387 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

spoken  of  as  disjointed  curtains.  Some  curtains  were  not 
folded  at  all,  but  stretched  across  the  sky  as  simple  bands, 
which  Avere  sometimes  called  arches.  An  entirely  different 
kind  of  arch  could,  however,  be  distinguished. 

AucH  AuRORxV. — This  consists  of  a  series  of  bright 
patches,  arranged  in  a  large  arc  or  circle,  and  of  long 
tapering  beams  going  upwards  from  each  patch.  Exam- 
ined closely  there  is  a  sharp  distinction  between  the  narrow 


Cl-utain'  Band  Circling  Erebus,  May  2G 


tapering  beam,  and  the  brighter  expanded  portion.  The 
arch  in  its  typical  form  is  much  less  conmion  than  the  cur- 
tain. The  rays  are  often  seen  coming  from  beyond  the 
horizon,  or  from  behind  hills,  while  the  basal  arc  is  hidden. 
Similar  beams  often  rise  far  apart,  but  still  apparently 
radiating  from  a  centre.  Others  are  unconnected,  and 
incline  at  various  angles.  These  form  a  transition  to  the 
searchlight  type. 

388 


MAGNETISM 

The  figure  shows  a  typical  arch,  with  a  bright  curtain 
beneath  it,  witnessed  on  June  19,  1908. 

Searchlight  Aurora. — Long  bright  expanding 
beams  suggest  a  resemblance  to  searchlights,  not  only  by 
their  form,  but  by  the  rapidity  of  theii*  movements.  They 
swing  about  in  the  same  manner,  and  shoot  out  suddenly 
from  the  horizon  or  from  a  patch  of  nebulous  aurora,  and 
as   suddenly   disappear.      They   often   accompany   other 


Arch  and  Curtain,  June  19 

forms  of  aurora.  Some  searchlight  beams  are  shown  in 
the  figure  of  the  very  peculiar  aurora  of  JNIay  23,  1908. 

Nebulous  Aurora. — A  nebulous  auroral  haze  is  con- 
stantly associated  with  clouds,  occurring  on  the  upper  sur- 
face and  showing  at  the  edges.  Sometimes  the  nebulous 
light  accompanied  haze  so  thin  that  it  would  not  be  seen 
without  the  illumination,  and  in  such  cases  it  might  be  seen 
di'ifting  along  with  the  wind. 

Other  Auror.(E. — ^AU  the  definite  types  of  aurorse 

389 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

readily  change  into  other  types.  Curtains  lose  their  form 
and  become  nebulous;  the  hazy  border  of  a  cloud  gives  out 
beams  like  an  arch  or  searchlights;  any  type  will  suddenly 
concentrate  into  a  single  beam  or  into  a  shapeless  patch. 
Some  aurorge  occurred  which  could  not  be  classed  with  any 
of  the  types  recognised,  but  they  were  not  common  enough 
to  get  special  names.  Two  of  the  most  striking  auroree 
are  figured. 


\ 


\ 


X 


\ 


\ 


''iaiii™^^ 


Great  Uea.m  of  Light,  Mat  23.  1908 


On  JNIaj^  23  at  11  a.m.  a  great  broad  beam  of  light 
appeared  from  behind  a  stratus  cloud  in  the  west  from 
Cape  Royds,  and  grew  upwards  till  it  reached  the  zenith. 
It  was  at  first  accompanied  bj^  some  searchlight  beams 
(shown  inclined  to  the  right)  which  soon  disappeared. 
The  broad  beam  illuminated  some  strips  of  cirrus  in  its 
path,  which  were  scarcely  visible  to  right  and  left  of  it. 

It  swimg  slowly  down  to  the  left,  the  lower  end  keep- 
ing in  the  same  apparent  position,  till  it  made  an  angle  of 

390 


MAGNETISM 

forty-five  degrees  with  the  horizon,  when  it  faded.  The 
whole  display  lasted  twenty  minutes.  The  dotted  line  in 
the  fignre  shows  the  last  position  of  the  beam.  It  differed 
from  the  ordinary  searchlights  in  the  great  breadth  and 
parallel  sides  of  the  beam  as  well  as  in  its  steady  motion. 

This  was  one  of  the  few  auroree  somewhat  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Magnetic  Pole,  but  it  did  not  appear  to  be  very 
distant,  to  judge  from  its  illumination  of  cirrus  clouds  at 
a  great  height. 


Aurora  ON  August  31 


On  August  31  was  seen  the  aurora  figured  below. 
Almost  in  the  zenith  there  was  a  large  tract  of  sigmoid 
shape.  From  near  tliis  there  diverged  very  long  faint 
streamers  over  the  whole  quarter  of  the  sky  from  east  to 
north.  Though  pretty  close  together  the  streamers  were 
not  joined  as  in  a  curtain,  and  were  of  unequal  lengths. 
On  several  other  occasions  similar  displays,  converging  on 

391 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

bright  tracts  in  the  zenith  were  seen,  which  approached 
the  corona  type  of  aurora,  as  figured  by  Peters. 

i\Io^•EJIE^'TS  OF  AuROKA. — Is  there  any  general  direc- 
tion in  wliich  aurorjB  move,  or  in  which  the  shimmer  or 
kindhng  passes  along  the  curtains,  &c.  ?  Some  notes  bear- 
ing on  the  question  are  available. 

Those  aurora  associated  with  clouds  must  travel 
simply  with  the  wind.  Auroree  not  connected  with  clouds 
may  have  their  motions  determined  by  other  causes. 

May  24. — An  even  arch  appeared,  trending  from 
north-west  to  south-east,  about  30°  above  the  south-west 
horizon.  The  arch  travelled  towards  the  north-east  till  it 
reached  the  zenith,  and  passed  20°  beyond  it.  One  end 
now  rested  on  ISIount  Erebus,  when  the  motion  ceased  and 
the  arch  faded.    The  motion  was  slow  and  intermittent. 

June  30. — A  disjointed  curtain  over  the  summit  of 
Erebus  travelled  southward,  and  at  length  concentrated 
in  one  reddish  beam. 

June  4,  8.30  p.m. — An  auroral  glow  appeared  in  the 
west.  A  curtain  grew  east  from  it  to  Erebus.  A  vivid 
green  shimmer  passed  slowly  along  from  west  to  east,  and 
faded  just  over  Erebus. 

Earlier  on  the  same  day  Professor  David  reported  an 
arch  trending  from  north  to  south,  and  a  shimmer  passing 
along  it  from  north  to  south. 

August  26,  6.15  P.M. — A  typical  curtain  low  down  over 
Erebus,  its  ends  bearing  north-east  and  south-east.  Waves 
of  brighter  light  passed  along  it  from  north  to  south. 

TIDES  AND  CURRENTS 

By  JAMES  MURRAY 

The  coast-line,  always  encumbered  by  the  ice-foot, 
would  render  littoral  tide  observations  in  Antarctica 
difficult  or  impossible.    Fortunately  the  fast  ice,  filling  all 

392 


Thk  -TinF  CiAfCK 


MURRA-Y    AND    MaW^OX    AT    A    HOLE    MAOK    IN    ONE    OF    TRE    FROZEN'    LAKES 


TIDES  AND   CURRENTS 

confined  waters  during  the  winter  and  spring  months, 
gives  a  unique  opportunity  for  such  obsei-vations,  im- 
possible in  open  waters.  The  ice-surface  affords  a  plat- 
form on  which  to  erect  any  tide-obseming  instiiiment, 
which,  while  rising  and  falling  freely  with  the  tides  or 
other  dishevelling  agencies,  is  undisturbed  by  any  lateral 


LOV</  V^AiTER 


yr'\f^AV)-^My!^M 


l'i';;i/>iu;r:':;.'''f'i!ii:!^:<'^;:ii«';''iii:!fi!K 


'i.jii'!i.ii;/l 


A 


.'.lA  niirroM 


Diagram  showing  the  Principal  Parts  of  the  Tide-gauge 

W  =  the  weights,  the  larger  one  as  anchor,  lying  on  the  sea-bottom,  the  smaller  one  (the 
object  of  which  is  to  keep  the  line  taut  at  all  times)  on  the  free  end  of  the  line,  below  the 
lever ;  L  =  the  long  bamboo  lever  for  reducing  the  scale ;  T  =  two  legs  of  the  bamboo 
tripod,  supporting  the  pulley  over  which  the  wire  passes ;  D  =  the  drum  on  which  the 
record  is  made.  The  recording  part  of  the  apparatus  is  more  complicated  than  the  dia- 
gram indicates.    It  will  be  described  in  detail  in  the  scientific  publications. 

movements.  By  the  combined  efforts  of  most  of  the 
scientific  staff,  and  the  skilful  hands  of  our  engineer.  Day, 
a  form  of  tide-recording  instnmient  was  de^^sed  and 
made.  It  was  set  up  on  the  ice  of  Backdoor  Bay,  about 
one  hundred  yards  from  shore,  by  Dr.  Mackay  and 
Professor  David. 


393 


m 
H 

s 
o 


a 

9 


o 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

The  recording  part  of  the  instrument  was  a  modified 
barograph.  A  box  weighted  with  stones  was  put  down 
through  a  hole  in  the  ice  as  an  anchor.  The  wire  from 
tliis  anchor  was  taken  over  a  pulley  hung  from  a  tripod 
of  bamboo  poles.  It  was  then  attached  to  one  end  of  a 
long  lever  of  bamboo,  which  was  weighed  to  keep  the 
wire  taut.  By  the  arrangement  of  the  lever  the  record 
of  the  tide  movement  was  reduced  to  one  twentieth  and 
thus  brought  within  the  limits  of  the  barograph  drum. 
The  parts  above  the  ice  are  shown  in  the  i)hotograph. 
The  wire  in  passing  through  the  ice  is  enclosed  in  a  tube 
wliich  is  kept  filled  with  oil,  as  used  for  the  same  purpose 
on  the  Discovery  expedition.  The  instnmient  worked 
well,  and  a  continuous  record  was  got  for  about  three 
months  interrupted  only  for  half  an  hour  weekly,  when 
the  papers  were  changed.  At  the  end  of  that  time  the 
wire  broke  from  the  box  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  the 
tripod  was  blown  dov\7i  during  a  severe  blizzard.  The  ice 
was  then  so  thick  that  it  was  found  impossible  to  cut  a 
hole  to  put  down  another  anchor. 

The  tide  record  obtained  on  the  barograph  drum  was 
a  simple  undulating  curve  with  one  maximum  per  day, 
attaining  the  greatest  amplitude  at  full  and  new  moon, 
and  diminishing  almost  to  nothing  at  the  quarters,  when 
shorter  waves  of  less  amplitude  could  be  seen. 

When  the  record  was  analj^sed  it  was  resolved  into  two 
undulations,  the  larger  one  having  the  period  equal  to  the 
lunar  day,  the  smaller  one  having  a  period  of  half  a  day. 
As  one  maximum  per  day  of  the  lesser  tide  coincides  with 
the  maximum  of  the  greater  tide,  its  effect  on  the  original 
record  is  to  increase  the  apparent  amplitude  in  that 
phase,  wliile  the  other  maximum  of  the  lesser  tide  causes 
a  flattening  in  the  opposite  phase  of  the  greater  one. 

This  figure  shows  the  results  of  an  analysis  of  the 
same  portion  of  tide-record  sho%vn  in  the  previous  figure. 

396 


TIDES  AND   CURRENTS 

The  upper  curve  is  the  larger  side,  and  shows  how  it 
diminishes  at  the  first  and  third  quarters  (end  of  line  to 
the  left)  and  increases  at  new  and  full  (to  right).  The 
lower  curve  is  the  smaller  tide,  and  it  is  almost  uniform 
through  all  phases  of  the  moon,  though  it  is  not  always 
so  uniform  as  in  the  portion  figured. 

Seiches. — The  tide  record  shows  what  is  known  as  a 
"  festoonmg,"  due  to  lesser  undulations.  These  are  seen 
chiefly  during  blizzards,  but  they  are  known  to  occur  also 
in  cahns.  The  small  scale  on  which  the  record  is  made 
prevents  any  analysis  of  these  undulations,  but  they  were 
more  clearly  seen  on  the  first  tide-measuring  instrument 
which  we  used.  Before  the  recording  tide-guage  was  de- 
vised Dr.  Mackay  built  an  instrument  for  measuring  tides. 
In  this  there  was  simply  a  weight  shding  on  an  inclined 
plane  which  was  marked  as  a  scale.  A  pencil  working  in 
a  straight  hne  gave  the  amount  of  the  tides,  but  to  get 
the  time  of  the  different  phases  it  had  to  be  observed  at 
regular  intervals.  It  was  noticed  that  over  and  above  the 
steady  rise  and  fall  of  the  tide,  the  weight  was  constantly 
rising  and  falling  at  intervals  of  one  or  a  few  minutes, 
and  sometimes  to  the  extent  of  four  inches  or  more. 

It  would  have  been  possible  to  plot  a  detailed  curve 
of  these  oscillations  by  observing  at  intervals  of  half  or 
quarter  minutes,  but  the  cold  was  too  great  to  permit 
imcovering  the  hands  to  record  the  observations.  These 
oscillations  are  considered  to  be  of  the  nature  of  seiche 
waves.  Seiche  was  the  name  given  to  certain  free  oscilla- 
tions of  enclosed  bodies  of  water,  fii'st  observed  in  Swiss 
lakes  by  Professor  Forel.  Whatever  the  origin  of  the 
inequalities  of  level  which  must  precede  the  oscillation, 
that  continues  as  a  seiche,  diminishing  till  a  state  of  rest 
is  again  reached. 

The  period  of  the  seiche  (i.e.,  the  time  between  the 
recurrences  of  the  same  phase  of  the  oscillation)   has  a 

397 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

definite  relation  to  the  dimensions  of  the  hody  of  water. 
Seiches  are  best  observed  in  enclosed  basins  of  water,  where 
they  are  not  interfered  with  by  tides,  but  oscillations  of  the 
same  nature  are  of  frequent  occurrence  in  deep  bays  on 
the  sea  coast.  These  may  be  set  up  by  the  ordinary  lunar 
tides,  but  the  recurring  tidal  waves  maj^  often  obscure 
them.  The  seiches  at  Cape  Royds  might  originate  in  this 
Avay.  The  Ross  Sea  is  a  deep  bay  of  large  size  in  wliich 
secondary  oscillations  might  be  expected,  and  JMcIMurdo 
Sound  is  a  similar  bay  of  small  dimensions.  The  seiches 
obsen^ed,  with  periods  of  only  a  few  minutes,  and  small 
amplitude,  might  be  supposed  to  be  readily  set  up  by 
Avdnds. 

Currents  in  McMurdo  Sound 

There  were  many  indications  of  a  permanent  current 
setting  south  j^ast  Cape  Bird  towards  CajDe  Royds.  About 
half  a  mile  north  of  Cape  Royds,  at  Black  Sand  Beach, 
it  was  by  some  influence  deflected,  and  left  the  land, 
passing  away  southward  for  some  miles.  The  readings 
of  the  current  indicator  set  up  near  Cape  Royds  seem 
to  show  that  the  deflecting  influence  is  another  current 
coming  from  the  southward. 

The  first  indication  of  the  southward  setting  current 
was  a  prett}^  one.  On  ]March  16,  ^vhen  the  Sound  was 
entirely  open  and  no  large  ice  was  in  sight,  a  strong 
southerly  Annd  was  blowing.  This  brought  a  quantity 
of  fine  broken  ice  with  it  which  drifted  along  the  shore 
from  Cape  Royds  northwards,  forming  a  zone  about  one 
hundred  yards  wide.  In  the  figure  the  dark  shading  shows 
the  band  of  ice  fragments,  the  small  arrows  the  direction 
of  the  wind,  and  the  long  arrow  the  currents  from  the 
north  which  stopped  the  drift  of  the  ice. 

At  Black  Sand  Beach  the  band  of  ice  left  the  shore 
and  SAATing  round  and  went  away  across  the  Sound  in  a 

398 


TIDES  AND   CURRENTS 

direction  south  of  west.  The  north  edge  of  the  ice  band 
was  as  clean  as  if  it  had  stopped  against  a  sohd,  while 
the  spindrift  flying  northward  showed  that  therq  was  no 
change  in  the  wind.  The  line  followed  by  this  band  of 
ice  fragments  became  approximately  the  hmit  of  the  fast 
ice  later  on. 

After  the  permanent  ice  formed  in  the   Sound,   its 
edge  extending  in  a  line  south-west  from  Black  Sand 


MACMURDO 


z^' 


WixD-DRiVEX  Ice  Stopped  by  Ccrrext  from  North,  March  16 


Beach,  every  gale  cleared  the  ice  out  from  the  sea  north 
of  tliis  hne.  When  cahn  weather  returned,  pack  ice  and 
bergs  floated  doA\Ti  the  east  side  of  the  Sound,  till  they 
struck  the  fast  ice,  when  they  began  to  roll  along  its  edge 
away  south-westvvard. 

The  drift  of  the  Nimrod  from  January  7  to  16,  1909, 
when  held  in  the  pack,  extended  our  knowledge  of  this 
current,  and  proved  a  vast  eddy  from  Cape  Bird  rouzid 

399 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 


Kddt  or  Pack  in  McMurdo  Souxd,  Januauy.  1909 


Variation  in  Direction  of  Current,  June  30  to  July  23,  Indicated 
BY  THE  Arrow 

400 


TIDES  AND   CURRENTS 

by  Cape  Roj^ds  and  Granite  Harbour,  to  the  Nordensk- 
jold  Barrier. 

The  arrows  indicate  roughly  the  drift  of  the  ice.  The 
cross  (  +  )  marks  the  spot  where  the  Nimrod  was  caught 
in  the  pack,  and  the  other  cross  ( X  )  about  where  she  was 
released.  The  line  below  the  arrows  is  the  edge  of  the 
fast  ice. 

Ctjrkext  Indicator. — This  was  devised  by  Shackle- 
ton,  and  set  up  on  the  ice  a  short  distance  off  Cape  Royds. 
It  was  put  in  charge  of  Brocklehurst,  who  visited 
it  several  times  a  day  when  practicable,  from  June  30  to 
August  18,  A\hen  it  was  finally  out  of  action.  Only  the 
earher  readings  are  taken  into  account,  as  it  is  suspected 
that  latterly  the  vane  beneath  the  ice  became  encumbered 
by  the  growth  of  the  ice,  and  the  readings  are  therefore 
not  so  trustworthy. 

These  readings  bring  out  two  things:  firsts  a  current 
nearly  at  right  angles  to  that  coming  from  Cape  Bird; 
secondly,  an  absence  of  any  indication  of  tidal  influence. 
From  June  30  to  July  25,  the  current  was  steadily  be- 
tween north  and  west,  and  most  frequently  north-west. 
The  arrows  show  the  amoimt  of  variation  in  the  direction. 


Vol.  n.-26 


METEOROLOGY 
A  SUMMARY  OF  RESULTS 

By  Professor  T.  W.  EDGEWORTH  DAVID,  B.A.,  F.R.S., 

AND 

Lieutenant  ADAMS,  R.N.R., 
Meteorologist  to  the  Expedition,  1907-1909 

SYSTEMATIC  meteorological  observations  were  kept 
on  the  voyage  of  the  Nimrod,  commencing  on 
Januar)'  1,  1908,  from  Port  Lyttelton  do\\7i  to  winter 
quarters  at  Cape  Royds.  These  obsen^ations  were  taken 
hourly.  On  the  return  voyage  from  Ross  Island  to  Port 
Lyttelton  observations  were  taken  during  everj'-  watch. 
On  the  return  voyage  of  the  Nimrod  from  Lj'ttelton  to 
Ross  Island,  on  her  cruises  in  the  Antarctic,  and  the 
return  voyage  to  Lyttelton,  meteorological  observations 
were  taken  at  intervals  of  four  hours. 

At  winter  quarters,  Cajie  Royds,  systematic  observa- 
tions were  taken  by  one  of  us  (Lieutenant  Adams)  dur- 
ing the  da}%  from  ]March  to  October  1908,  observations 
at  night  being  taken  bj'  whoever  happened  at  the  time 
to  be  night  watchman.  These  observations  Avere  two 
hourly.  From  October  1908  till  February  1909,  the 
biologist,  J.  INIurray,  who  had  previous  experience  of 
meteorological  work,  was  in  charge  of  the  meteorological 
obsen'ations  and  records. 

Attempts  were  made  to  ascertain  the  amount  of 
annual  snowfall  in  the  Antarctic  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Ross  Island.    This  task  was,  of  course,  beset  with  the 

402 


METEOROLOGY 

same  difficulty  which  the  meteorologists  of  all  other  Ant- 
arctic expeditions  experienced,  viz.,  that  of  distinguishing 
between  fresh  falling  snow  and  old  snow  drifted  through 
the  air  by  blizzards.  We  did  our  best  to  make  this  dis- 
crimination, but  the  results  can  only  be  set  down  as 
emi^irical  and  provisional.  Our  general  conclusion  is,  that 
at  CajDc  Royds  the  snowfall  from  Febinaaiy  1908  to 
February  1909  was  equal  to  about  dy^  in.  of  rain, 

IMackintosh,  when  on  the  Southern  Supporting-party's 
expedition,  in  charge  of  Joyce,  in  Januaiy  1909,  found  as 
the  result  of  excavations  made  at  the  old  Depot  A  of  the 
Discovery  expedition  near  Minna  Bluff,  that  the  snow- 
fall there  for  the  past  six  years  had  been  equal  to  an 
annual  rainfall  of  7^1/2  in. 

During  the  whole  time  of  our  residence  in  the  Ant- 
arctic, from  February  1908,  till  this  beginning  of  jNIarch 
1909,  no  rain  whatever  fell.  The  snow  usually  came  with 
a  bhzzard.  These  blizzards  blew  from  a  general  southerly 
direction;  at  Cape  Roj^ds  they  were  mostly  from  the 
south-east.  It  is  clear  that  the  snow  brought  by  the 
blizzards  is  in  part  drift  snow,  in  part  new  falling  snow. 
On  several  occasions  we  noticed  that,  whereas  in  the 
earlier  part  of  the  blizzard  the  snow  was  largely  redis- 
tributed old  snow  in  the  form  of  drift,  towards  the  end  of 
a  blizzard  fresh  new  falling  snow  would  be  deposited.  As, 
at  the  time  of  the  blizzai-d,  the  udnd  was  travelhng  very 
rapidly  from  the  south  at  the  rate  of  perhaps  sixty  to 
seventy  miles  an  hour,  we  argued  that  this  new  falling 
snow  was  probably  produced  by  moisture  carried  by  the 
upper  currents.  The  temperature  of  the  atmosphere  in- 
variably increased  considerably  from  the  beginning  of  a 
blizzard  towards  its  end.  This  rise  was  very  marked,  for 
whereas  the  initial  temperature,  at  the  beginning  of  a 
blizzard,  would  be  perhaps  minus  30°  Fahr.,  at  the  end 
of  a  blizzard,  after  a  lapse  of  possibly  twenty-four  to 

403 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

thii'ty  hours,  the  temperature  would  have  risen  to  plus  12° 
or  plus  15°  Fahr. 

This  rise  in  temperature  may  have  been  due  to  causes 
of  wliich  the  more  important  are:  First,  the  usual  fohn 
effect,  the  temperature  of  the  air  being  raised  through 
compression  as  the  air  descends  from  higher  levels  to 
lower.  This  compression  effect  ought  theoretically  to 
make  itself  strongly  felt  at  the  atmospheric  South  Polar 
vortex.  Secondly,  the  latent  heat  set  free  when  aqueous 
vapour  in  the  atmosphere  is  passing  into  the  form  of  snow 
which,  of  course,  tends  to  raise  the  atmospheric  tempera- 
ture. It  might  also  be  suggested  that  as  the  atmospheric 
circulation  during  a  blizzard  is  immensely  accelerated, 
probably  the  upper  winds  under  these  conditions  may 
transfer  relatively  warm  air  from  tropical  regions  pole- 
wards. If  tliis  be  so,  it  is  quite  possible  that  some  of  the 
snow  wliich  falls  towards  the  close  of  a  blizzard  was  formed 
out  of  the  moisture  generated  in  warmer  climates. 

The  Southern  Party  specially  studied  the  question  of 
whether  much  snow  fell  far  south,  and  the  Northern 
Party,  who  went  to  the  South  JNIagnetic  Pole,  also  paid 
special  attention  to  this  point  of  whether  the  snowfall 
increased  in  proportion  as  one  receded  from  the  South 
Pole.  As  the  result  of  the  observations  of  the  Southern 
Party  it  was  clear  that  \\ithin  ninety-seven  geographical 
miles  of  the  South  Pole  there  Avere  still  very  strong  south- 
south-east  winds,  bringing  with  them  a  quantity  of  snow. 
During  the  time  the  Southern  Party  were  on  the  plateau 
no  falls  of  fresh  snow  were  observed;  but  there  was 
nothing  to  suggest  that  the  armual  snowfall  was  less  than 
at  winter  quarters. 

Temperature. — ^The  lowest  temperature  we  ex- 
perienced was  minus  57°  Fahr.,  near  Wliite  Island  on  the 
Great  Ice  Barrier,  on  August  14, 1908.    We  may  refer  to 

401 


Cloud  Spikvus  abovk  Mouxt  Erebcs 


Cloud  Spirai-s  rs  Cpper  CrRRFSTs  or  Ara  near  ERKRrs 


METEOROLOGY 

Mr.  JMurray's  notes  for  a  comparison  of  the  temperatures 
observed  by  us  and  by  other  Antarctic  expeditions. 

Winds. — These  may  be  divided  into  surface  winds  and 
high-level  winds. 

As  regards  surface  winds,  we  found  in  Ross  Sea  that 
these  were  controlled  to  a  great  extent  by  the  presence  or 
absence  of  ice  over  Ross  Sea.  Once  McJMurdo  Sound 
and  the  Ross  Sea  to  the  north  of  it  became  firmly  frozen 
over,  we  found  that  we  enjoyed  calmer  weather  conditions 
than  we  did  when  the  sea  was  open.  Evidently  the 
presence  of  a  large  surface  of  comparatively  warm  water 
at  plus  28°  Fahr.  acts  as  a  disturbing  factor  in  the  local 
atmospheric  circulation.  The  surface  winds  at  our 
winter  quarters  were  either  gentle  northerly  winds,  whose 
speed  seldom  exceeded  twelve  miles  an  hour,  or  gentle 
winds  from  the  south-south-east  or  south-east.  If  these 
latter  winds  become  strongly  developed  they  pass  over 
into  a  definite  bhzzard.  One  of  the  rarest  winds  at  Cape 
Royds  was  a  north-westerly. 

On  the  southern  journey  it  was  noted  that  south-south- 
east winds  predominated  on  the  surface  of  the  Great 
Barrier.  These  sometimes  s\\Tjng  round  to  between  south- 
south-west  and  west-south-west.  The  Southern  Party  ex- 
perienced a  violent  south-south-east  blizzard  at  a  point 
just  beyond  latitude  88°  South.  At  the  furthest  point 
south  attained  by  them,  latitude  88°  23',  the  sastrugi  were 
large  and  high,  and  trended  from  south-south-east  to 
north-north-west.  There  was  much  soft  snow  on  this  part 
of  the  plateau  at  an  altitude  of  over  10,000  ft. 

On  the  journey  of  the  Northern  Party  to  the  South 
ISIagnetic  Pole  it  was  found  that  the  chief  winds  on  the 
coast,  as  well  as  on  the  high  plateau,  are  from  south-south- 
west to  west,  ^^^th  occasional  blizzard  winds  from  the 
south-south-east  and  south-east.  Both  the  Northern  and 
Southern  Party  kept  specially  careful  records  of  the  direc- 

405 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

tion  of  the  dominant  sastrugi.  JNIaps  of  these  will  be 
published  in  the  jNIeteorological  JMemoir.  It  is  certain 
that  a  good  deal  of  the  westerly  wind  experienced  by  the 
Northern  Party  in  their  journe}-  along  the  sea-ice  near 
the  coast  was  practically  a  land  breeze.  It  used  to  spring 
up  soon  after  midnight,  and  keep  on  blowing  pretty 
freshly  mitil  about  10  a.m.  on  the  following  day.  It  was 
observed  that  occasionalh'  in  the  neighbourhood  of  jNIount 
Nansen  a  breeze  would  spring  up  from  the  noi-th-east  off 
Ross  Sea,  carrying  dense  cumulus  clouds  inland. 

HiGH-LEM3L  ATMOSPHERIC  CuRREXTS. — On  January 
14,  1908,  ]\Iessrs.  Leo.  Cotton,  Douglas  JNIawson  and  T. 
W.  Edgeworth  David  were  able  to  get  some  observations 
of  the  direction  and  rate  of  movement  and  height  of  the 
upper  wind  current,  in  latitude  69°  53'  South,  longitude 
179"  47'  \Vest.  We  estimated  that  the  mean  height  of 
the  mackerel  sky  which  seemed  to  be  formed  at  the  base 
of  the  anti-trade  wind  was  on  this  occasion  between  13,000 
and  14,000  ft.,  and  we  determined  that  the  rate  of  move- 
ment of  the  mackerel  clouds  Mas  about  twenty-miles  per 
hour  in  a  south-easterly  direction.  This  does  not  mean 
necessarily,  of  course,  that  the  upper  wind  was  not  moving 
at  a  still  more  rapid  rate,  but  the  figure  may  be  looked 
upon  as  the  minimum  speed  for  that  current. 

At  Mount  Erebus  our  winter  quarters  were  situated 
in  an  exceptionally  favoured  position  for  observing  the 
upper  cuiTents  of  the  atmosphere.  Not  onh'  had  we  the 
great  cone  of  Erebus  to  serve  as  a  graduated  scale  against 
which  we  could  read  off  the  heights  of  the  various  air 
currents  as  portrayed  by  the  movements  of  the  clouds 
belonging  to  tliem,  but  we  also  had  the  magnificent  steam 
column  in  the  mountain  itself,  which  by  its  swaying  from 
side  to  side  indicated  exactly  the  direction  of  movement 
of  the  higher  atmosphere.  IMoreover,  during  violent 
eruptions   Uke  that  of  June  14,  1908,  the  steam  column 

406 


Di'MB-HF-i.t.  ri.orn   AROVF  Erkbtts 


METEOROLOGY 

rose  to  an  altitude  of  over  20,000  ft.  above  sea-level. 
Under  these  cii-cumstances  it  penetrated  far  above  the 
level  of  a  current  of  air  from  the  pole  northwards,  so  that 
its  summit  came  well  within  the  sweej^  of  the  higher  wind 
blowing  in  a  southerly  direction,  the  result  being  that  the 
steam-cloud  in  this  region  was  dragged  over  powerfully 
towards  the  south-east.  On  such  occasions  one  usually 
saw  evidence  of  two  high-level  currents,  the  one  coming 
from  a  northerly  direction,  its  under  limit  being  about 
15,000  ft.  above  sea-level;  and  the  other,  or  middle  cur- 
rent from  a  southerly  quarter,  usually  blowing  towards 
the  east-north-east,  meeting  its  upper  limit  at  15,000  ft. 
normally  while  its  lower  limit  was  between  6000  and  7000 
ft.  above  sea-level.  While  these  two  currents  were  blow- 
ing strongly,  there  would  frequently  be  a  surface  current 
blowing  gently  from  the  north.  This  would  bring  up 
very  dense  masses  of  cumulus  cloud  from  off  Ross  Sea. 
The  cumulus  would  drift  up  to  the  6000  or  7000  ft.  level 
on  the  north-west  slopes  of  Erebus,  and  then  the  tops 
of  the  cumulus  would  be  cut  off  by  the  lower  edge  of  the 
northward  flowing  middle  current.  Wisps  of  fleecy  cloud 
would  be  swept  along  to  the  east-north-east  torn  from  the 
tops  of  these  cumulus  clouds  by  the  middle  current.  The 
whole  appearance  is  illustrated  in  the  accompanjdng 
diagram. 

It  is  of  especial  interest  to  note  the  effects  of  blizzards 
on  the  direction  of  movement  of  the  high-level  currents,  as 
well  as  on  their  altitude.  As  the  result  of  our  ascent  of 
Erebus  we  ascertained  that  the  whole  of  the  snowfall 
lying  within  the  rim  of  the  second  great  crater,  at  an 
altitude  of  from  11,500  to  over  12,000  ft.,  is  strongly 
ridged  with  sastrugi,  which  trend  from  about  west-south- 
west to  east-north-east  in  the  du'ection  of  the  prevalent 
middle-air  current.     The  sharp  points  of  these  sastrugi 

407 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

are  directed  towards  the  west-south-west,  the  quarter  from 
which  of  course  the  prevalent  wnd  blows. 

Our  actual  experience  of  a  hea\y  blizzard,  at  a  level 
of  over  5000  ft.  on  Erebus,  as  well  as  our  subsequent 
observations  of  the  height  to  wliich  the  blizzard  wind  ex- 
tended, showed  that  during  blizzards  the  whole  atmosphere 
from  sea-level  up  to  at  least  11,000  ft.  moves,  near  Cape 
Royds,  from  south-east  to  north-west,  and  the  speed  of 
movement  is  from  forty  up  to  over  sixt}'  miles  an  hour. 


-  S' 

►- 

UJ 

X 

Z  -10- 

u 
s 

I 

If 


•IS' 


m-20 

Ui 

111 

K 

O  -25' 

o 

-30- 


HEIGHT       IN        FEET      ABOVE      SEA      LEVEL 

5500"  8500'^  10650°  M300" 


13300" 


^s£ape  Royds                                            '                                       t                             1        '                          ( 

\         ;          ;        ;  :       ; 

\      !        .  i        i  ;       ^ 

N^          i         \  \r\    i 

The  Cttrve  of  Atmosphebic  Temperatche  from  Cape  Rotds  to  Summit  of  Erebus 


The  day  that  we  reached  the  summit  of  Erebus,  JNIarch  10, 
1908,  we  found  ourselves  at  the  level  of  over  13,000  ft. 
within  the  lower  limit  of  the  upper  wind.  Subsequent 
observations  by  us  of  the  point  in  the  steam-cloud  over 
Erebus,  where  the  bend  took  place  at  the  junction  of  the 
lower  limit  of  tliis  current,  with  the  top  limit  of  the  middle 
current,  showed  that  after  and  during  the  blizzard  the 
middle-air  current,  normally  blowing  from  the  west-south- 
west, is  temporarily  abolished,  being  absorbed  by  the 
immense  outrushing  air  stream  of  the  south-east  blizzard. 
We  noticed  that  usually  in  winter  time,  especially  when 
a  bhzzard  was  imi^ending,   strong  cloud  radiants  were 

408 


METEOROLOGY 

developed  towards  the  north-west.  These  radiants  were 
produced  by  the  apparent  convergence,  due  to  perspective, 
of  long  belts  of  cirro-stratus  clouds;  they  could  be 
observed  s\vinging  round  for  several  hours  from  north- 
west to  true  north,  and  even  east  of  north.  When  this 
was  the  case  a  blizzard  was  certain  to  be  impending.  Un- 
fortunately, during  a  blizzard,  the  air  was  generally  so 
thick  with  snow  that  we  were  unable  to  see  the  top  of 
Erebus.  At  the  end  of  a  blizzard  the  air  current  over 
Erebus  became  suddenly  reversed,  the  steam-cloud 
swinging  round  from  the  south  to  the  north.  After  a 
time,  following  on  the  conclusion  of  a  blizzard,  a  high- 
level  current  was  seen  to  be  floating  the  cirrus  clouds  from 
the  south-east  towards  the  north-west,  and  the  steam  of 
Erebus  would  stream  out  towards  the  north-west.  We 
could  not  account  for  this  high-level  south-easterly  cur- 
rent. It  looked  like  a  reversal  of  the  usual  upper  wind, 
and  it  appears  to  be  a  fact  new  to  meteorological  science. 
As  regards  the  sequence  of  events  during  a  blizzard, 
they  would  seem  to  be  as  follows:  First,  there  would  be 
gentle  northerly  winds  at  Cape  Royds  for  perhaps  one 
or  two  days;  temperatures  would  be  low,  and  it  would 
appear  as  though  the  air  flowing  south  was  coming  to 
supply  the  void  which  otherwise  would  be  caused  by  the 
contraction  of  the  atmosphere  near  the  pole.  Then  would 
follow  two  or  three  days  of  absolute  calm,  the  temperature 
meanwhile  continually  falling.  We  may  suggest  hj-po- 
thetically  this  meant  that  a  great  mass  of  air  near  the 
pole  was  constantly  becoming  heavier  and  denser  as  the 
result  of  the  increasing  cold.  Sooner  or  later,  perhaps 
a  week  after  the  northerly  wind  ceased  to  blow,  this 
heavy  mass  of  cold  air  would  seem  to  force  a  passage 
for  itself  equatorwards.  It  would  commence  rushing 
out  as  a  south-easterly  blizzard,  and  as  soon  as  this 
rapid    current    was    started,    and    even    before    it    had 

409 


THE   HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

got  to  the  latitude  of  Cape  Royds,  77°  32'  South,  an 
acceleration  of  the  ujiper  cun-ent  above  it  had  already  set 
in.  This  led  to  the  curving  of  the  upper  current  into  a 
direction  more  or  less  parallel  to  meridians  as  it  rushed  in 
to  take  the  place  of  the  cold  wind  escaping  from  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  pole.  The  increased  speed  of  circu- 
lation of  the  upper  current  increased  the  normal  fohn 
effect  at  the  pole,  and  this,  combined  with  the  more  rapid 
transfer  of  warm  air  from  the  north  to  the  south  by  the 
medium  of  the  upper  current,  together  with  the  latent 
heat  from  the  snow  formed  combined  to  raise  the  polar 
atmospheric  temperature,  and  so  temporarilj'^  to  make  that 
region  a  region  of  relatively  low  pressure  instead  of  rel- 
atively high,  that  is,  relatively,  as  compared  with  the 
normal  atmospheric  pressure  there.  As  soon,  however, 
as  this  warming  of  the  polar  air  had  become  general  con- 
ditions for  a  blizzard  wind  ceased,  and  a  period  of  calm 
supervened.  At  the  moment  of  the  cessation  of  the  wind, 
conceivably,  a  species  of  hydraulic  ram  effect  made  itself 
felt  in  the  suddenly  checked  anti-trade  wind  current  above, 
which  led  to  the  stoppage  of  that  great  air  stream  tem- 
porarily, and  its  resurging  back  equatorwards,  thus  pro- 
ducing a  curious  high-level  current  frequently  seen  by  us 
after  a  blizzard  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Erebus. 

To  return  from  this  theoretical  digression  to 
observed  facts,  an  occasional  precursor  of  the  cessation 
of  a  blizzard  was  the  veering  of  the  wind  from  south-east 
through  east-south-east  to  east. 

That  these  blizzard  winds  occasionally  blow  right 
across  the  Antarctic  Circle,  and  reach  the  shores  of 
Australasia,  is  indicated  by  the  experience  of  the  Nimrod. 
When  she  left  Cape  Royds  on  February  23,  1908,  she 
left  us  in  a  light  south-easterly  wnd,  the  survival  of  a 
previous  blizzard,  and  the  following  four  days  it  was  still 
blo^\ang  a  blizzard.    Then,  after  a  partial  cessation  of  the 

410 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

wind  for  two  days  more,  the  blizzard  freshened  again  on 
[March  1,  continuing  to  blow  on  March  2.  The  Nimrod 
experienced  these  south-easterly  winds  all  the  way  back, 
from  Cape  Royds  to  Port  Lyttelton  in  New  Zealand, 
arriving  at  the  latter  port  wtliin  twelve  and  a  half  days 
after  she  left  Cape  Royds. 

It  is,  of  course,  premature  as  j'et  to  generalise  on  the 
result  of  these  observations.  It  is  hoped  that  when  the 
jNIeteorological  IMemoir  is  completed  that  the  observations, 
especially  on  the  movements  of  the  higher  atmosphere, 
will  contribute  to  our  knowledge  of  meteorological  con- 
ditions and  the  laws  which  control  them  in  the  Southern 
Hemisphere. 

Additional  Notes  By  JAMES  MURRAY 

In  regard  to  the  relation  of  barometric  pressure  and 
temperature  to  wind-storms,  the  accompanying  diagram 
shows  the  curves  traced  by  the  daily  means  of  barometric 
pressure,  wind,  and  air  temperature.  The  curv^es  are 
drawn  to  such  scales  as  will  make  them  readily  comparable. 

The  uppermost  cun'e  is  that  of  the  daily  means  of 
the  barometric  readings,  the  middle  curve  is  the  wind,  and 
the  lowest  one  is  the  temperature.  The  dates  are  marked 
at  the  top,  and  each  vertical  line  represents  an  interval 
of  one  day.  The  period  selected  includes  the  whole  of 
May  and  June  1908.  The  scales  are  marked  vertically 
at  the  left-hand  side,  the  barometer  in  inches  and  tenths, 
the  wind  in  miles  per  hour  ( from  zero  up  to  40 ) ,  the  tem- 
perature in  degrees  Fahrenheit  (from  j^lus  20°  to  minus 
20°). 

The  midwinter  period  is  selected  because  at  that  time 
two  features  characteristic  of  the  Antarctic  chmate  are 
best  developed.  The  first  is  the  absence  of  constant  and 
definite   correspondence   between    barometric   movement 

412 


METEOROLOGY 

and  wind;    the  second  is  the  constant  relation  of  tem- 
perature and  wind. 

It  is  not  meant  that  wind-storms  never  accompany 
or  follow  great  changes  of  pressure,  but  that  the  relation 
often  fails,  and  is  not  constant  and  rehable.  Severe  wind- 
storms may  occur  when  the  barometer  is  steady  or  shows 
only  gentle  movements,  as  in  the  first  few  days  of  ]\Iay 
1908.  On  the  other  hand,  and  more  commonly,  very  great 
rises  and  falls  of  the  barometer  may  occur  in  compara- 
tively calm  weather,  as  between  June  1  and  12,  in  which 
period  there  was  only  a  few  hours  of  moderately  fresh 
breeze  on  the  4th.  June  19  to  22  is  a  more  striking 
example,  when  a  very  rapid  rise  of  barometer  occurred, 
without  anj^  decided  wind-storm.  But  the  wind-storms 
between  JSIay  5  and  15  accompanied  considerable  fluctu- 
ations of  the  barometer. 

The  relation  of  wind  and  temperature  is  sho^^Ti  in  the 
remarkable  parallelism  of  the  two  cun^es.  A  wind-storm 
is  almost  invariably  followed  by  a  rise  of  temperature,  as 
indicated  by  the  dotted  lines.  The  only  exception  in  the 
period  illustrated  is  the  moderate  storm  of  ]May  20  to  21, 
when  there  was  no  appreciable  rise  of  temperature. 

Cold  blizzards  have  been  noted.  The  worst  of  all  was 
that  of  July  25  to  27,  when  the  daily  means  ranged  from 
minus  22.0°  to  minus  29.0°,  and  as  low  as  minus  35.0° 
was  recorded. 

The  rise  of  temperature  during  a  blizzard  amounted 
to  as  much  as  32°  on  July  9,  and  even  greater  rises  have 
been  noted. 

The  intimate  relation  between  wind  and  temperature 
continues  throughout  the  cold  weather,  but  almost  disap- 
pears in  the  summer  months.  The  relation  of  wind  to 
barometric  pressure  (possibly  on  account  of  the  proximity 
of  open  sea)  is  also  much  more  regular  in  the  summer. 

413 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Antarctic  Temperatures 

Tlie  accompanying  diagram  was  drawn  while  in  the 
south  in  order  to  make  a  comparison  of  the  temperatures 
experienced  by  all  the  Antarctic  expeditions  (of  which 
records,  giving  monthly  means  for  a  period  of  one  year 
or  more,  were  available).  The  results  of  plotting  the 
temperature  curves  were  so  curious  and  interesting  that  the 
diagram  is  here  reproduced. 

The  months  read  from  left  to  right,  and  the  tempera- 
tures, in  degrees  Fahrenheit,  from  above  downwards. 

The  tAvo  uppermost  cun'es  are  Dr.  Bruce's  records 
{Scotia  expedition)  dot  and  dash  — .  —  =  his  first  year 
(1903),  dots  .  .  .  .  =  his  second  year  (190-i). 

The  thin  plain  line  =  Borschgrevinck's  record  (1899) . 
(This  curve  is  taken  from  JNIr.  Armytage's  book.) 

The  short  dashes =  the  Discover jj  records  for 

the  first  year    (1902),   the  long  dashes —  =  the 

second  year  (1903). 

The  thick  plain  line  gives  the  curve  for  our  expedition 
which  onl)'  covers  ten  months  of  the  year  1908. 

Dr.  BiTJce's  temperatures  were  recorded  much  further 
north  than  any  of  the  others  and  outside  the  Antarctic 
Circle.  They  are  much  higher  throughout  except  in  the 
summer  months  at  which  season  all  the  records  approxi- 
mate pretty  closely.  The  remarkable  feature  in  these  two 
series  is  the  alternating  of  higher  and  lower  temperatures 
in  the  t^vo  years  so  that  the  two  curves  when  plotted 
together  make  a  regular  chain. 

Borschgrevinck's  curve  is  much  higher  than  those  of 
the  Discovery  except  in  July  and  September  which  were 
equalled  in  the  second  year  of  the  Discovery. 

The  Discovery  curves  for  the  two  years  show  a 
peculiarity  similar  to  those  of  the  Scotia.  The  second 
year  was  colder  throughout,  till  October,  after  which  it 

414 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

was  warmer.  The  two  curves  diverge  in  April,  meet 
in  ]\Iay  and  June,  diverge  in  July,  meet  in  August, 
diverge  in  September,  meet  and  cross  in  October.  Though 
there  is  only  one  crossing  the  chain  is  ahnost  as  distinct 
as  in  the  Scotia  records. 

Our  curve  for  1908  is  first  noticeable  for  the  striking 
paralleUsm  from  ]March  till  August,  with  the  Discovery 
second  year.  It  lies  between  the  two  Discovery  curves  in 
JMarch  and  April,  rises  greatly  in  JNIay  and  equals 
Borschgrevinck's.  In  June  it  is  well  above  Borschgrev- 
inck's,  making  the  least  cold  June  kno^v'n  in  Victoria 
Land.  From  August  to  November  it  is  again  the  warmest 
season  known  in  this  region. 

In  all  the  records  for  Victoria  Land  the  trough 
form  of  the  cun'es  is  very  noticeable.  The  summer,  as 
measured  by  temiDcrature,  is  very  short:  the  approximate 
maximum  is  maintained  only  for  two  months  (December 
and  January),  and  the  curve  falls  away  steeply  and 
steadily  on  each  side.  The  temperature  falls  rapidly  till 
the  approximate  winter  mean  is  reached,  after  which  it 
fluctuates  about  this  mean  for  from  four  to  six  months, 
before  the  next  summer's  rise  sets  in. 

The  -rtinter  mean  was  reached  approximately  as  early 
as  April  in  the  second  year  of  the  Discovery  (1903) ,  and 
in  1908.  In  the  Discovery  first  year  (1902)  it  was  reached 
in  INIay,  and  in  1899  (Borschgrevinck)  as  late  as  June. 
The  rise  began  in  all  cases  in  September,  except  in  the 
second  year  of  the  Discovery  (1903) ,  when  it  was  a  month 
later. 

In  Dr.  Bruce's  records  the  summer  is  longer,  lasting 
for  five  or  six  months,  and  the  winter  is  much  less  marked, 
as  far  as  temperature  goes.  The  difference  between  the 
highest  monthly  mean  for  summer  and  the  lowest  for 
winter  is  only  about  26°  (Fahr.).  In  1908  the  difference 
was  47°. 

416 


METEOROLOGY 

An  important  characteristic  of  Antarctica  is  the  cold 
summers,  with  the  monthly  mean  rarely  above  freezing- 
point.  The  diagram  brings  out  the  close  approximation 
(within  10')  of  all  the  means  recorded  for  December  and 
January,  from  regions  so  far  apart  in  latitude  as  the 
wintering  stations  of  the  Discovery  and  the  Scotia. 

NOTE  ON  THERMOMETERS  FOR  POLAR 

WORK 

By  JAMES  MURRAY 

For  work  in  regions  where  temperatures  below  the 
freezmg  point  of  mercury  are  to  be  expected  it  is  custom- 
arj'^  to  trust  entirely  to  spirit  thermometers.  We  had 
reason  to  regret  doing  so.  Whatever  may  be  their  be- 
haviour in  temperate  climates,  in  polar  regions  the  error 
of  the  spirit  thermometers  is  apt  to  fluctuate  in  a 
puzzling  and  irritating  manner,  especially  in  thermometers 
which  have  to  be  carried  about  from  place  to  place. 

For  example,  several  thermometers  were  tested  in  the 
sea  in  winter,  when  the  temperature  was  just  a  small 
fraction  above  the  freezing-point  of  sea  water.  They 
showed  errors  varying  from  one  or  two  to  many  degrees. 
When  tested  immediately  afterwards  in  water  from  melt- 
ing fresh-water  ice,  they  read  quite  correctly,  that  is  to  say, 
they  showed  errors  no  greater  than  those  indicated  on  the 
Kew  certificates. 

To  make  corrections  in  the  readings  only  for  the  cer- 
tified error  would  be  most  misleading.  To  attempt  to 
restore  the  thermometers  by  getting  the  displaced  spirit 
back  into  the  colurmi  before  beginning  a  series  of  obser- 
vations was  of  no  avail,  as  the  theiinometers  might  go 
WTong  at  any  moment. 

The  only  means  of  giving  the  readings  of  spirit  ther- 

voi.  n.— 27  417 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

niometers  any  credibility  at  all  was  to  test  them  constantly 
in  comparison  with  a  mercury  thermometer,  which  was 
itself  tested  occasionally  in  melting  fresh-water  ice. 
Fortunately  we  had  half  a  dozen  mercury  thermometers, 
taken  for  other  than  meteorological  purposes.  Unfortu- 
nately they  were  only  graduated  down  to  zero  (Fahr.). 
Had  the  scale  gone  down  to  near  the  freezing-point  of 
mercury,  thej^  might  have  sei-\'ed  for  all  our  observations. 
Whenever  a  series  of  temperatures  (as  in  a  shaft  sunk 
through  the  ice)  came  partly  below  and  partly  above  zero 
(Fahr.),  the  whole  series  was  taken  with  spirit  ther- 
mometer, but  eveiy  one  above  zero  was  repeated  with  a 
mercury  thermometer,  and  the  whole  series  corrected  in 
correspondence  with  its  readings.  This  practice  at  least 
minimised  the  chance  of  change  in  the  error  of  the  spirit 
thermometer,  bj^  allowing  the  least  possible  time  for  it. 

In  the  meteorological  screen  a  mercury  thermometer 
was  hung  beside  the  spirit  one  used  for  the  dry-bulb  read- 
ings. No  variation  was  ever  detected  in  this  one,  which 
was  undisturbed.  The  maximum  and  minimum  frequently 
went  wrong,  and  had  to  be  corrected  by  observing  the 
position  at  which  they  rested  when  shaken  down. 

Greely  remarks  on  the  unreliability  of  spirit  ther- 
mometers. It  is  desirable  for  polar  expeditions  to  be 
provided  with  mercury  thermometers  graduated  down  as 
low  as  possible.  We  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  our 
thermometers  were  not  of  excellent  quality.  The  defect 
is  inherent  and  largely  due  to  climate. 

CLOUD  FORMS 

Bt  JAMES  MURRAY 

Without  treating  them  from  the  meteorological  stand- 
point, some  notes  and  sketches  of  the  more  striking  forms 
of  cloud  associated  with  INIount  Erebus  may  be  of  interest. 

418 


METEOROLOGY 


Stratified  Cloud  on  Erebus,  October  13 


Spirax  Cloud,  Jult  23 

419 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

This  great  isolated  cone,  standing  between  the  open 
sea  and  the  boundless  frozen  plain,  had  an  immense  effect 
on  the  moisture-laden  currents  of  air,  and  gave  rise  to 
remarkable  forms  of  clouds  which  we  saw  nowhere  else. 

The  Laminated  Cloud. — ]Most  characteristic  of  all 
the  clouds  of  Erebus  was  the  great  bank  of  laminated 
cloud,  resting  on  one  flank  or  other  of  the  mountain,  and 
reaching  to  the  summit  and  above  it,  often  to  the  height 


Spiral  Cloud,  September  25 


of  many  thousands  of  feet.  The  familiar  shape  of  this 
cloud  was  given  when  two  gentle  currents  of  air  going  in 
opposite  directions,  met  at  some  height  above  the  crater. 
The  lower  current  carried  the  cloud  a  little  bit  one  way, 
then  it  was  carried  back  in  the  opposite  direction  by  the 
upper  current,  as  shown  in  the  illustration. 

The  disposition  of  the  clouds  shown  in  this  sketch  is 
unusual,  as  there  is  a  tliin  stratified  band  (not  the  smoke- 

420 


METEOROLOGY 

cloud)  trailing  off  to  the  south,  while  the  great  bank  hangs 
on  the  north.  Generally  this  great  cloud  rests  on  the  north 
slope,  but  occasionally  the  position  is  reversed. 

Spiral  Cloud. — A  modification  of  the  great  cloud- 
bank,  produced  by  the  meeting  of  very  gentle  currents, 
resulted  in  the  rolling  up  of  the  cloud  into  a  spiral  form. 

On  July  23  a  spiral  was  formed  from  a  bank  on  the 
south  side  of  the  mountain,  as  figured  below.    The  upper 


WOALE-BACKS,   SEPTEMBER   10 


current  on  this  occasion  was  from  the  south.  A  similar 
spiral  cloud  is  figured,  right  over  the  mountain,  in  the 
picture  of  saw-edged  stratus,  October  1. 

The  most  remarkable  spiral  cloud  observed  was  that 
of  September  25,  1908.  The  bank  of  cloud  lay  on  the 
north  flank.  The  upper  current  was  from  the  south,  as 
on  July  23.  Its  action  was  so  regular  that  the  spiral  could 
be  traced  for  more  than  a  complete  turn. 

421 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 


Wbale-back  Clouds,  Septeudeb  16 


Umdulatb  Stbips  of  Cloud,  Jult  28 

422 


IVIETEOROLOGY 


Interlacing  Clouds,  Septeubeb  Iti 


Saw-edged  Stratus  and  other  Clouds,  October  1.  1908. 

423 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

Whale-back  Clouds. — The  most  striking  of  all  the 
cloud  forms  on  Erebus  were  those  to  which  we  gave  the 
name  of  whale-backs.  They  were  small  patches  of  cloud, 
isolated  or  two  or  three  together,  one  over  another,  with 
very  evenly  rounded  upper  surfaces,  the  lower  surfaces 
more  indefinite,  often  rounded  too.  A  very  good  develop- 
ment of  them  occured  on  September  16,  1908.  The  largest 
stratified  group  of  them  formed  an  object  like  a  comet, 
the  others  were  isolated.  This  display  went  through  many 
changes,  slowly  and  gradually.  Two  stages  are  figured. 
The  first  figure  shows  the  clouds  at  an  early  stage,  in 
which  they  appear  imbricated  in  a  characteristic  manner, 
observed  on  many  other  occasions  They  were  then  strati- 
fied, showing  generally  three  layers  in  each  group. 

At  a  later  stage,  shown  in  the  next  figure,  the  whale- 
backs  were  isolated,  except  the  one  large  comet-like  mass. 

While  usually  evenly  rounded,  the  curves  were  fre- 
quently reversed  at  the  ends,  as  shown  in  the  lower  goup 
in  the  first  figure. 

Whale-backs  were  usually  seen  after  a  blizzard,  occa- 
sionally before  one.  During  the  blizzard  the  mountain 
was  generally  hidden,  so  that  we  could  not  tell  if  they  were 
formed  during  the  storm. 

Undulate  Clouds. — Narrow  lines  of  cloud  were 
often  arranged  in  regular  or  irregular  undulations.  The 
first  figure  shows  fairly  regular  undulations,  over  the  sum- 
mit of  Erebus,  on  July  28,  1908.  The  second  figure 
shows  a  modification  of  this  form,  in  which  the  wisps  of 
cloud  are  intricately  interlaced.  This  occurred  on  the 
south  side  of  Erebus,  on  September  16,  at  the  same  time 
as  well-developed  whale-backs  on  the  north  side. 

Sometimes,  especially  after  storms,  a  great  variety  of 
clouds  were  piled  up  over  and  around  Erebus,  including 
whale-backs,  cumulus  undulate  clouds,  with  perhaps  a 
spiral  cloud  over  all. 

424 


METEOROLOGY 

One  such  accumulation  is  figured,  in  which  there  were, 
cumulus,  just  below  the  summit,  two  banks  of  stratus  at 
different  levels,  the  upper  one  with  deeply  serrated  edge, 
and  a  spiral  cloud.  Over  all  was  a  Noah's  Ark  of  cirro- 
stratus,  not  figured,  and  beyond  the  influence  of  Erebus. 
Saw-edged  stratus  was  seen  on  one  or  two  other  occasions, 
but  was  not  common. 


REPORT  ON  THE  HEALTH  OF  THE 
EXPEDITION 

By  Dr.  ERIC  MARSHALL,  M.R.C.S.,  L.R.C.P. 

T^HE  fact  that  there  was  no  case  of  scurvy  during  the 
•*•  period  of  the  expedition's  residence  in  the  Antarctic 
may  be  attributed  to  tlie  fact  that  the  utmost  care  had  been 
taken  in  provisioning  the  expedition  with  foods  of  the  best 
quahty  obtainable,  in  that  variety  which  is  essential  under 
polar  conditions.  Bottled  and  preserved  fruits  were  used 
liberally  during  the  long  winter,  and  when  the  spring  ap- 
proached and  the  preparations  for  the  spring  and  summer 
sledging  involved  an  increasing  amount  of  physical  work, 
the  allowance  of  fresh  meat  (penguin,  seal  and  mutton) 
was  increased.  When  the  spring  depot  party  started 
south  on  September  22,  1908,  all  the  members  of  the  expe- 
dition had  been  on  a  liberal  allowance  of  fresh  meat  for  a 
month.  During  the  whole  winter  all  the  men  took  daily 
exercise  in  the  open  air,  this  routine  being  interrupted 
only  by  the  most  severe  blizzards.  There  was  no  case  of 
sickness. 

We  found,  in  the  matter  of  clothing,  that  heav\-  pilot- 
cloth  garments  and  furs  were  not  essential  provided  that 
wind-proof  suits  were  worn,  and  that  the  body  temperature 
was  maintained  by  a  full  diet.  On  the  southern  journey, 
when  the  rations  had  been  reduced  to  the  minimum,  and 
our  clothing  was  worn  and  torn,  so  that  it  no  longer  kept 
out  the  biting  wind,  our  temperatures  were  subnormal. 
At  the  end  of  a  long  day's  march  and  in  the  face  of  a 
blizzard  wind,  when  our  altitude  was  about  ten  thousand 

426 


MEDICAL  REPORT 

feet,  our  temperatures  were  on  several  occasions  reduced 
to  94°  Fahr.,  rising  to  97°  or  98°  after  we  had  eaten  a  hot 
though  scanty  meal.  Frost-bites  were  more  frequent  at 
these  times,  and  it  was  more  difficult  to  restore  the  part 
attacked. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  members  of  the  expe- 
dition did  not  suffer  from  colds  during  their  stay  in  the 
Antarctic  save  in  August  1908,  when  a  bale  of  new  cloth- 
ing was  opened  in  the  hut,  and  all  the  men  were  at  once 
seized  with  acute  nasal  catarrh.  The  sj^mptoms  were 
quickly  dispelled  when  we  took  exercise  in  the  open,  and 
those  who  remained  in  the  hut  recovered  after  two  or  three 
days. 

On  the  return  of  the  expedition  to  New  Zealand  the 
Nimrod  laid  up  for  one  day  at  the  mouth  of  Lord's  river, 
Stewart's  Island,  and  a  number  of  the  staff  went  ashore 
to  bathe  and  fish,  &c.  All  who  went  ashore  suffered  con- 
siderably from  the  inflammation  caused  by  the  bites  of 
sand  flies,  yet  it  was  only  those  members,  who,  on  arrival 
at  Lyttelton  and  Christchurch,  New  Zealand,  who  were 
not  immediately  seized  with  colds. 

The  expedition  was  not  entirely  free  from  accidents, 
for  on  arrival  at  the  ice  in  January  1909,  A.  L.  A.  jNIack- 
intosh  was  struck  in  the  right  eye  by  a  hook  while  unload- 
ing cargo.  The  accident  necessitated  the  immediate  re- 
moval of  the  eye.  His  recovery  was  extremely  satisfac- 
tory, so  that  on  the  fourth  day  he  was  able  to  get  about. 
This,  however,  prevented  him  from  remaining  with  the 
shore  staff,  as  it  was  deemed  necessary  that  he  should  re- 
turn to  Australia. 

During  the  ascent  of  Mount  Erebus,  Brocklehurst, 
while  wearing  ski-boots,  was  frost-bitten  in  both  feet, 
eight  toes  being  affected.  LTnder  treatment  seven  re- 
covered, but  the  great  toe  of  the  left  foot  showed  no  signs 
of  improvement,  and  ultimately,  dry  gangrene  having  set 

427 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

in,  I  amputated  the  last  joint  a  month  after  the  accident. 
Recovery  was  slow  owing  to  the  hmited  amount  of  healthy 
tissue  for  the  posterior  anterior  flap.  The  ultimate  result 
was  satisfactory.  B.  Day,  while  tobogganing,  fractured 
the  base  of  the  third  metatarsal  of  his  right  foot.  These 
accidents,  together  with  a  few  septic  fingers,  were  all  that 
arose  in  the  surgical  line. 

Weights  and  measurements  were  taken  regularly,  but 
although  shghtly  on  the  increase  during  the  winter,  did 
not  vary  much  from  month  to  month,  although  one  mem- 
ber has  now  well-marked  linear  albicantes  on  both  upper 
arms  as  a  memento  of  the  adiposea  of  the  south. 

During  one  time  or  another  all  the  members  of  the 
Southern  Party  suffered  more  or  less  severely  from  dys- 
entery. Some  of  the  pony  meat  was  not  wholesome,  and 
as  the  supply  of  oil  was  small,  it  was  either  eaten  raw  or 
warmed  to  about  100°  Fahr.,  with  the  result  that  we  were 
unable  to  digest  it.  An  acute  enteritis  resulted  and  pros- 
trated us  from  time  to  time.  At  tliis  time  we  were  almost 
entirely  dependent  on  the  pony  meat,  the  starch  food 
available  being  of  the  scantiest. 

A  considerable  quantity  of  Easton  Syrup  tabloids 
were  used  on  the  plateau  and  were  found  of  assistance. 
Only  on  two  or  three  occasions  did  any  one  suffer  from 
snow-blindness,  and  on  each  occasion  the  snow  goggles 
provided  had  not  been  worn. 

The  deep  amber  glasses  were  a  sufficient  protection, 
as  they  cut  out  all  the  actinic  rays,  and  had  a  very  pleasing 
tone.  A  combined  flash  red  and  worked  green  glass,  giv- 
ing an  orange-brown  tone,  was  also  provided.  The  glasses 
themselves  entirely  eliminate  the  violet  and  ultra-violet 
rays  and  were  an  absolute  protection  against  snow-blind- 
ness, but  a  more  complete  system  of  ventilation  in  the  vul- 
canised fibre  cylinders  was  required. 

428 


SOUTHERN  JOURNEY  DISTANCES 

^r^HE  following  table  gives  detailed  information  regard- 
■^  ing  the  distances  travelled  day  by  day  on  the  southern 
journey.  The  geograpliical  miles  given  in  the  first  column 
cover  the  period  from  November  15,  when  the  party  left 
Depot  A,  until  January  9,  when  the  furthest  south  point 
was  reached.  The  distances  have  been  taken  from  the 
chart  after  all  corrections  have  been  made,  and  represent 
a  direct  line  from  camp  to  camp. 

In  the  second  column  will  be  found  the  noon  latitudes, 
calculated  from  observations  taken  as  opportunity  offered. 
The  observations  have  been  checked  by  the  officers  of  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society  in  London. 

The  last  column  shows  the  distances  travelled  day  by 
day  according  to  sledge-meter,  and  these  figures  of  course 
take  into  account  all  deviations  and  detours,  so  often  rend- 
ered necessary  by  the  condition  of  the  surface.  That  the 
sledge-meter  was  reliable  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  on  the 
homeward  journey  we  were  able  to  calculate  our  positions 
without  taking  latitude  observations.  We  took  onlj--  one 
observation  during  the  journey  back  to  the  coast  (January 
31,  noon  position  82°  58'  South),  and  on  that  occasion  the 
theodolite  confirmed  the  record  of  the  sledge-meter. 

Observations  for  variation  were  taken  whenever  we 
took  a  latitude  observation,  and  the  results  will  be  found 
recorded  on  the  chart. 

The  latitude  observations  noted  in  this  table  were 
taken  with  a  three-inch  theodolite,  which  was  earefuUy 

429 


THE   HEART 

OF 

THE 

ANTARCTIC 

Date. 

Geographi- 
cal miles. 

Noon 
latitudes. 

statute 
mik'S. 

Yards. 

Relay. 

1908 
October  29 

14 
9 

23 

23 
nomarch 

12 

16 

9 

nomarch 

1 
nomarch 

14 

15 

15 

15 

15 

15 

12 

17 
16 
15 
15 
15 
15 
15 
17 
17 
17 
16 
16 
15 
14 
12 
19 
11 
20 
10 
5 

10 

880 

October  30  (Hut  Point) 

Oclobcr  31  (back  to  Royds) . . 
November    1  (to  Hut  Point)  . 

November    2  (blizzard)  

November    3 

^ 

880 

300 

500 

1200 

600 
1550 

1650 

1550 

100 

1500 

200 

200 

500 

200 

800 

500 

250 

1650 

680 

1600 

1700 

1200 

1500 

900 

150 

200 

1450 

570 

.... 

November    4 

November    5 

November    6  (blizzard) 

November    7 

November    8  (blizzard)  .  .    .  . 
November    9 

November  10 

November  11 

November  12 

November  13 

November  14 

November  15 

7.39 
(from  noon) 
14.91 
13.3 
13 
13.7 
13.6 
13.3 
16 
14 
15.4 
14.6 
13.2 
15.5 
13.6 
11.7 
11 
10.5 
10.3 

10.5 
3.1 
4  1 
9  1 

79°36'S. 
82°12'S. 

ss'sg-s. 

83''33'S. 

November  16 

November  17 

November  18 

November  19 

November  20 

November  21 

November  22 

November  23 

November  24 

November  25 

November  26 

November  27 

November  28 

November  29 

November  30 

December    1 

December    2 

December    3  (Mount  Hope)  . 
December    4 

December    5 

4 

December    6 

3 

December    7 

430 


SOUTHERN  JOURNEY 


Date. 


Geographi- 
cal miles. 


NOOD 

latitudes. 


Statute 
miles. 

Yards. 

12 

150 

11 

1450 

11 

860 

8 

900 

3 

500 

5 

7 

880 

13 

200 

13 

1650 

12 

250 

6 

600 

10 

11 

950 

6 

.... 

4 



13 

11 

250 

10 

650 

14 

480 

14 

930 

14 

450 

12 

600 

4 

100 

11 

11 

900 

10 

450 

11 

1680 

14 

660 

15 

480 

15 

313 

no  inarch 

no  march 

18 

704  from 
camp 

18 

704  back 

[     * 

40  to 

camp 

21 

308 

Relay. 


1908 

December    8 

December    9 

December  10 

December  11 

December  12 

December  13 

December  14 

December  15 

December  16 

December  17 

December  18 

December  19 

December  20 

December  21 

December  22 

December  23 

December  24 

December  25 

December  26 

December  27 

December  28 

December  29 

December  30 

December  31 

1909 

January  1 

January  2 

January  3 

January  4 

January  5 

January  6 

January  7  (blizzard) 
January  8  (blizzard) 
January    9 


January  10 


7.7 
9.8 
9.8 
7.2 
3.1 
4.5 
8 

11.5 

12 
9.1 
3 
7.4 

10 
7 
7 

6.2 
9.2 
9.2 

11.4 

12 

11.7 

10.1 
3.7 
8.5 


9.7 
9.1 

12.6 
12.2 
13.4 
13.2 


16.5 


84°  2' S. 


84' 


85' 


53 


19 


'S. 


86°59'S. 

87">22'S. 


(88°  T 
camp) 


88°23'S. 

(furthest 
south) 


6     1000 
6 

2 


1 

12 

1     880 

1 

3 

6 


431 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 


Date. 


Geographi- 
cal miles. 


Noon 
latitudes. 


Statute 
miles. 


Yards. 


Relay. 


1909 


January  11 

Januar)'  12 

January  13 

January  14 

January  15 

January  16 

January  17 

January  18 

January  19 

January  20 

January  21 

January  22 

January  23 

Januarj'  24 

January  25 

Januarj'  26 

January  27 

January  28 

January  29  (blizzard) 

January  30 

January  31 

February 

February 

February 

February 

February 

February 

February 

February 

February 

February  10 

Februarj'  11 

Februarj'  12 

February  13 

February  14 

February  15 

February  16 

February  17 

Februarj-  18 

Februaiy  19 

Februarj-  20 


1 

2 

3 

4  (dysentery) 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 


82' 


58 


19 
14 
IS 
20 
20 
18 
22 
26 
29 
15 
17 
15 
14 
16 
26 

16 

14 

2 
13 
13 
13 
13 

5 
no  inarch 

8 
10 
12 
12 
14 
20 
16 
14 
12 
11 
12 
13 
19 
15 
14 
14 


1580 

100 

1560 

1600 

800 
850 
900 

800 

900 
100 


890 


850 

1400 

900 

900 


880 

900 

300 

1320 

450 

1400 
440 

200 
400 
440 


432 


SOUTHERN  JOURNEY 


Date. 


Geographi 
cal  miles. 


Noon 
latitudes. 


Statute 
miles. 


Yards. 


Relay. 


1909. 

February  21 

February  22 

February  23 

February  24 

February  25  (blizzard) 

February  26  (left  A.  and  M.) 

February  27 

February  28 

March    1  

March    2 

March    3 

March    4  


20 
20 
14 
15 
no  march 
24 

39 

63 
30  out 
33  back 


800 
500 


adjusted  before  the  start  for  the  southern  journey.  An 
observation  taken  on  the  return  journey,  in  February, 
when  the  position  was  known  from  bearings,  showed  that 
the  instrument  was  correct.  The  observations  were  only 
taken  with  the  theodohte  "face  left,"  but  as  the  instrument 
was  in  good  adjustment  this  was  sufficient. 

On  the  outward  journey  the  last  latitude  observation 
was  taken  in  latitude  87°  22'  South.  The  remainder  of  the 
distance  marched  towards  the  south  was  calculated  by 
sledge-meter  and  dead  reckoning.  The  accuracy  of  the 
sledge-meters  used  was  proved  by  the  fact  that  on  the 
return  journey  we  were  able  to  pick  up  the  depots  without 
taking  observations.  The  "  slip  "  was  ascertained  by  care- 
ful tests  before  the  start  of  the  journey. 

The  chronometer  watches  taken  were  rated  before 
leaving  and  on  the  return,  and  the  error  was  only  eight 
seconds.  All  bearing,  angles  and  azimuths  were  taken 
with  the  theodolite.  Variation  was  ascertained  by  means 
of  a  compass  attached  to  the  theodolite,  and  the  steering 
compasses  were  checked  accordingly.    At  noon  each  day 

433 


Vol.  U.— 28 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

the  prismatic  compasses  were  placed  in  the  true  meridian, 
and  checked  against  the  theodolite  compass  and  the  steer- 
ing compasses. 

The  total  distance  marched,  from  October  29  to  March 
4,  as  recorded  on  the  sledge-meters,  was  1755  miles,  209 
yards  statute,  this  including  relay  work  and  back  marches. 


CONSUMPTION  OF  STORES  AT 
WINTER  QUARTERS 

Fifteen  ]Mex 
Week  ending  July  27,  1908 

LBS. 

Mutton 30 

Seal  meat 15 

Penguins  (six  Adelies) 12 

Bacon  (one  side) 30 

Tinned  fish 5 

Tinned  meat g 

Tinned  soups 36 

Tinned  and  dried  vegetables jg 

Sugar 20 

Syrup 6 

Honey 5 

Jam 15 

Chocolate 4 

Crystallised  fruits g 

Dried  fruits 2 

Tinned  and  bottled  fruit 40 

Dried  milk 56 

Coffee 1 

Tea 6 

Oatmeal  and  Quaker  Oats 6 

Eggs  (fresh  and  dried) 6 

Butter 20 

Suet  (tinned) 6 

Cocoa 2 

Rice 4 

Biscuits 10 

Flour 56 

Currants  and  raisins 8 

433 

435 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

Such  articles  as  salt  and  pepper  were  issued  as  re- 
quired, and  on  special  occasions  there  were  extra  dishes 
such  as  tinned  roast  reindeer,  roast  black  cock,  marrow 
pudding,  lobscouse  and  fish-cakes. 

The  amount  of  food  consumed  per  man  per  day  in  this 
week  was  about  4.12  lb. 


appettDijc  0int 

THE  NIMEODS  HOMEWARD  VOYAGE.     IN 
SEARCH  OF  DOUBTFUL  ISLANDS 

rpHE  homeward  voyage  of  the  Nimrod,  after  the  mem- 
-*■  bers  of  the  shore-party  had  been  landed  at  Port  Lyt- 
telton,  was  made  interesting  by  a  search  for  some  charted 
islands,  the  existence  of  which  was  doubtful.  J.  K.  Davis, 
who  had  been  first  officer,  was  in  command  at  this  time,  and 
he  had  under  liim  the  members  of  the  ship's  staff,  all  the 
members  of  the  shore-party  proceeding  from  New  Zealand 
by  the  ordinary  passenger  routes.  The  Nimrod  went  first 
to  Sydney,  where  the  naval  authorities  very  generously 
assisted  in  effecting  certain  necessary  repairs.  The  ap- 
pended report  by  Captain  Davis  deals  with  the  voyage 
from  that  point. 

"Monte  Video,  July  8,  1909. 
"  Leaving  Sydney  on  May  8,  I  steered  south  on  the 
151st  meridian  against  moderate  southerly  winds.  On 
May  12,  when  the  position  was  latitude  43"  South,  longi- 
tude 151°  East,  the  wind  came  away  fresh  from  the  south- 
east, and  as  I  did  not  consider  that  I  was  far  enough  to 
windward  of  Macquarie  Island  to  allow  me  to  stand  east 
in  that  latitude,  I  stood  west  and  decided  to  carry  out  your 
instructions  regarding  the  Royal  Company  Island  if  the 
wind  continued  south-easterly.  This  was  a  fortunate 
decision,  for  the  wind  continued  from  the  south  and  east 
for  four  days,  so  that  on  jMay  17  1  was  only  ninety-seven 
miles  from  the  position  of  the  islands  as  given  on  the 
chart.    At  noon,  after  ascertaining  our  position,  I  took  a 

437 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

sounding  in  2430  fathoms.  The  bottom  si)ecinien  was 
lost  through  the  wire  parting  while  heaving  in.  On  JNlay 
18,  at  2  P.M.,  in  fine  clear  weather,  we  sailed  over  the  posi- 
tion assigned  to  the  Royal  Company  Island,  with  notliing 
in  sight.  I  stood  east  till  4  p.m.,  and  then  south,  but  saw 
nothing  to  indicate  the  existence  of  land  in  the  vicinity, 

"  On  ]May  24,  when  190  miles  off  Macquarie  Island, 
we  encountered  a  heavy  north-west  gale,  wliich  the  vessel 
weathered  with  very  little  damage,  though  deeply  loaded. 
This  was  followed  on  the  25th  by  a  heavy  gale  from  the 
south-west,  but  at  11.45  p.m.  of  this  day  we  sighted  the 
island  and  managed  to  get  to  leeward  of  it  till  daylight, 
when  the  wind  and  sea  were  less  violent.  ]\Iy  instruc- 
tions were  to  visit  Macquarie  Island  for  the  purpose  of 
making  zoological  and  geological  collections  to  connect 
those  already  obtained  in  the  Antarctic  with  the  life  and 
rocks  of  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  and  also  of  observ- 
ing whether  any  Antarctic  birds  or  penguins  migrated 
there  in  the  winter  months,  as  they  (the  penguins  particu- 
larly) leave  the  far  south  when  the  sea  freezes  over  in 
April,  and  do  not  return  until  the  following  sunmier; 
where  they  migrate  to  has  so  far  not  been  discovered. 
We  sighted  the  island  on  the  night  of  ]May  26,  and  stood 
off  till  daylight,  when  we  were  soon  able  to  make  out  its 
distinctive  features.  Approaching  from  the  eastward  one 
is  at  once  stnick  by  the  rugged  boldness  of  the  coast-line, 
which  rises  sheer  out  of  the  water  to  a  height  of  nearly 
1500  ft.  in  places.  At  the  south-east  extremity  there  is  a 
reef  of  dangerous  ragged  rocks  on  which  the  sea  breaks 
heavily,  and  as  we  got  nearer  we  were  able  to  see  that  the 
mountain  slopes  were  green,  and  to  trace  the  course  of 
several  waterfalls.  A  wide  bay  or  rather  curve  in  the 
coast-line  forms  the  southern  ancliorage  called  Lusitania 

438 


NIMROD'S  VOYAGE 

Road;  close  inshore  is  a  line  of  rocks,  and  it  is  tlirough  a 
break  in  these  rocks  that  the  landing-place  is  reached. 

"  At  10  A.M.  we  anchored  in  eight  fathoms  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  shore.  From  the  sliip  we 
could  see  two  huts  situated  on  the  lower  ground  at  the 
foot  of  the  hill.  A  large  rookery  of  penguins  and  some 
sea  elephants  appeared  the  only  life  visible.  A  boat  was 
soon  lowered  and  sent  ashore  in  charge  of  the  cliief  officer ; 
the  party  succeeded  in  landing  through  the  heavy  surf 
and  the  boat  was  hauled  up  into  a  bed  of  kelp.  The  men 
scattered  to  collect  specimens,  &c.  They  found  the  slopes 
of  the  hills  covered  with  a  long  coarse  grass.  There  are  no 
trees  or  even  shrubs  on  the  island.  A  small  river  running 
down  a  valley  formed  by  the  hills  made  the  low  ground 
swampy.  Of  the  two  huts  the  larger  was  evidently  a 
boiler-house  for  rendering  down  the  blubber  of  the  sea 
elephants,  and  the  smaller  was  the  one  in  which  the  sealers 
lived  while  engaged  in  this  work  during  the  season.  Both 
wore  a  veiy  neglected  and  forlorn  appearance.  The  sea 
elephant,  wliich  is  like  a  big  seal  and  in  some  cases  over 
thirty  feet  long,  is  an  awkward,  clumsy  animal  and  appar- 
ently spends  most  of  its  time  asleep  in  the  long  grass  near 
the  water.  It  has  large  teeth  which  somewhat  resemble 
tusks,  but  although  it  appears  very  fierce  is  not  dangerous. 
The  penguins,  of  Avhich  there  were  a  great  number,  were 
of  the  King  genus,  and  they  keep  up  a  continuous  squeak- 
ing. The  young  birds  were  just  fledged  and  were  nearly 
ready  to  take  to  the  water. 

"  We  remained  at  anchor  here  for  the  night  and  at 
day-break,  which  was  not  till  eight  o'clock,  we  steamed 
along  the  coast  northwards.  There  was  a  fresh  north- 
west wind,  and  it  came  down  the  hill-sides  in  violent  gusts, 
called  by  the  whalers  '  willywaws,'  raising  a  sheet  of  foam 
on  the  water.     About  six  miles  up  the  coast  there  is  a 

439 


THE  HEART  OF  THE  ANTARCTIC 

break  in  the  hills  at  a  place  called  Green  Gorge,  which  is 
a  wide  valley  running  across  the  island.  Further  on  we 
could  make  out  Nugget  Point,  from  which  extends  a 
reef  of  rocks  for  some  distance  seaward.  As  we  drew 
nearer  to  this  point  we  could  make  out  two  huts  on  the 
shore  and  also  the  Mreck  of  a  vessel  high  and  dry  on  the 
beach.  Suddenly,  to  our  surprise,  a  column  of  smoke  rose 
from  the  smaller  of  the  two  huts.  As  we  had  heard  noth- 
ing of  any  one  hving  on  the  island  this  was  extraordinary. 
Presently  with  the  glass  we  could  make  out  the  figure 
of  a  man  standing  at  the  door  of  the  smaller  of  the  two 
huts  watching  our  approach.  ^Ve  came  to  an  anchor,  and 
the  boat  was  lowered  and  headed  for  the  shore.  The  man 
who  had  been  watching  us  from  the  hut  now  walked 
down  to  the  beach  accompanied  by  two  little  dogs.  There 
was  a  heavy  surf,  but  our  CiTisoe-like  friend,  after  point- 
ing out  the  best  landing-place,  walked  into  the  water  and 
assisted  in  beaching  the  boat.  Every  one  at  once  wanted 
to  know  what  he  was  doing  there,  was  he  alone,  how  long 
had  he  been  there,  &c.,  and  the  following  information  was 
gathered  in  less  time  than  it  takes  to  write.  Mr.  W. 
JNIcKibbon  had  arrived  at  the  island  last  JNIarch  in  a  small 
vessel  called  the  Jessie  Nicoll,  belonging  to  a  company 
that  has  the  lease  of  the  island  for  the  purposes  of  obtain- 
ing sea  elephant  and  penguin  oil.  This  vessel  brings 
down  a  number  of  men  to  work  on  the  island  during  the 
short  season  trying  down  blubber  on  shore,  &:c.  When 
the  previous  season  was  over  and  the  ship  filled  with 
barrels  of  oil,  instead  of  returning  with  the  other  men, 
our  friend  had  elected  to  remain  behind  on  the  island  for 
the  winter  by  himself,  and  to  collect  oil  for  the  next 
season. 

"  The  next  day  I  went  ashore  myself;  we  were  met  by 
our  friend  of  the  day  before  who  escorted  me  to  his  little 

440 


NIMROD'S   VOYAGE 

hut,  which  was  very  warm  and  comfortable  and  scrupu- 
lously clean.  It  consisted  of  two  rooms,  both  of  which 
had  fires ;  one  of  them  was  used  as  a  work-room  and  store, 
the  other  as  a  sleeping-place.  I  learnt,  as  I  sat  in  front  of 
a  comfortable  little  fu'e,  that  JNIcKibbon  Avas  a  native  of 
Carrick-on- Shannon,  and  had  been  in  the  navy  for  twenty 
years;  he  was  a  typical  sailor,  clean-shaven,  and  despite 
of  his  fifty  years  of  active  hfe  was  as  keen  and  alert  as  a 
boy.  '  I  never  had  an  illness  in  my  life,'  he  said  when  I 
asked  him  what  would  happen  to  him  if  he  fell  ill.  He 
was  nearly  as  surprised  to  see  us  as  we  were  to  see  him. 
'  I  thought  at  first  it  was  the  New  Zealand  Government 
light-house  tender;  then  when  you  came  closer  I  saw  you 
were  a  wooden  vessel  and  put  you  down  as  a  sui"veying 
ship.'  When  he  heard  that  we  had  just  returned  from  the 
Antarctic  he  told  us  that  he  had  been  in  the  Arctic  in  the 
paddle  frigate  Valorus,  which  vessel  took  up  stores  for 
the  expedition  under  Xares  and  JSIarkham. 

"  We  spent  four  days  at  Macquarie  Island,  and 
obtained  a  good  collection  of  specimens.  We  left  the 
island  on  May  30,  and  as  soon  as  we  got  from  under  its 
lee  encountered  a  fresh  westerly  gale  with  high  seas. 
Running  before  this  we  passed  over  the  charted  position 
of  Emerald  Island  at  8  p.m.  on  the  31st.  It  was  a  clear 
night,  three  days  from  full  moon,  and  if  there  had  been 
even  low  land  in  the  A^cinity  we  should  have  seen  it.  I 
decided  to  stand  on,  as  it  was  blowing  hard,  and  a  high 
westerlj'  sea  made  soundings  impracticable.  On  June  9 
we  arrived  in  the  vicinity  of  the  position  assigned  to  the 
Nimrod  Islands,  and  at  1.15  a.m.,  in  fine  clear  weather, 
passed  over  tliis  spot  with  nothing  in  sight.  The  weather 
here  again  was  much  against  us,  a  very  liigh  sea,  with 
fresh  westerly  wind  and  squally,  and  the  barometer  at 
28.20.    After  steaming  east  sixteen  miles  from  the  posi- 

441 


THE   HEART   OF  THE   ANTARCTIC 

tion,  it  being  now  dark,  I  hove  to  and  attempted  to  sound. 
This  operation,  being  performed  in  a  kind  of  bUzzard  by 
lamplight,  with  the  ship  rolling  heavilj'  all  the  time,  was 
not  a  great  success.  ^Ve  slacked  out  1140  fathoms  but 
obtained  no  bottom,  so  hove  in  again  as  the  wind  was 
coming  away  in  fierce  squalls  from  the  south-west.  I 
found  that  we  were  setting  fast  to  leeward,  so  decided  to 
continue  our  voyage. 

"  At  noon  on  June  17  we  were  up  by  dead  reckoning 
to  the  position  of  Dougherty  Island,  as  given  by  Captain 
Dougherty,  but  as  the  weather  was  overcast  could  not  be 
sure  of  our  position.  Captain  Keates  places  the  island  in 
the  same  latitude  tliirty-four  miles  further  east.  I  there- 
fore continued  eastward  on  the  parallel  over  this  position 
(by  dead  reckoning) .  As  it  was  now  dark  and  the  weather 
moderate,  I  stood  back  again  to  the  westward,  hoping  to 
get  sights  at  daylight  and  did  so.  Good  star  observations 
were  confirmed  at  noon,  when  the  island,  according  to 
Captain  Dougherty's  position,  should  have  borne  west 
distance  four  miles.  No  land  was  in  sight  from  the  mast- 
head in  clear  weather.  I  stood  east  again,  and  at  4  p.m., 
when  darkness  was  just  setting  in,  the  island  according 
to  Captain  Keates'  position  should  have  borne  east  four 
miles;  nothing  in  sight.  At  4.30  we  passed  over  this 
position  and  continued  eastward  along  the  parallel  of 
59°  21'  South,  but  saw  no  indication  of  land.  It  is  just 
here  that  we  met  with  ice  during  our  passage,  and  I  am 
inclined  to  think  Dougherty  Island  has  melted.  The 
darkness  was  sixteen  hours  out  of  the  twenty- four;  it 
was,  in  fact,  to  quote  from  the  '  Directory,'  one  long  star- 
less desolate  night,  a  perpetual  gloom  which  the  sun  seems 
never  to  penetrate,  and  the  conditions  made  a  search  of 
this  kind  more  or  less  doubtful.  Although  I  will  not  say 
these  islands  do  not  exist,  I  can  with  confidence  say  they 

442 


NIMROD'S   VOYAGE 

do  not  exist  in  the  locality  laid  down  or  anywhere  near  it. 
When  in  latitude  59°  31'  South,  longitude  107°  West,  we 
encountered  north-easterly  winds,  which  drove  us  into 
61  J/2  °  South,  where  we  met  moderately  warm  weather 
and  continual  rain.  As  the  sun  had  only  an  altitude  of 
S""  at  noon  there  was  almost  constant  darkness.  At  10.45 
P.M.  on  June  27  we  sighted  the  Diego  Ramirez  Island 
right  ahead  at  a  distance  of  fourteen  miles.  We  made 
an  extremely  good  landfall,  and  this  satisfied  me  that  our 
clironometers,  despite  the  changes  of  temi^erature  to  wliich 
they  had  been  subjected,  were  rehable.  It  was  a  cloudy 
moonhght  night,  and  the  fact  that  we  saw  these  islands, 
or  rather  rocks,  for  the  highest  point  is  only  587  ft.  above 
sea-level,  so  far  off  convinces  me  that  if  the  other  islands 
had  existed  anywhere  near  the  localities  laid  down  for 
them  we  could  not  have  failed  to  see  them." 

The  Nimrod  touched  at  ]Monte  Video  and  arrived  at 
Falmouth  on  August  26.  Four  days  later  she  was  berthed 
in  the  Thames,  thus  comjDleting  the  most  adventurous 
cruise  of  her  eventful  career.  She  had  been  away  from 
the  Thames  for  nearly  twenty-five  months. 


^\  COMPASS     CARD 


3     COMPASS     CARD 


TIDE   GAUGE 


appcnMr  Cen 


2540 

4 

8 

490 

6 

7 

18'il 

6 

11 

5161 

3 

3 

ESTIMATED    COST    OF   THE    BRITISH  ANTARCTIC    EXPEDITION 
1907   UP  TO  AUGUST,  1909 

£,       s.    d.      £      a.   d. 

Purchase  price  of  Nimrod 5000     0     0 

Cost  of  improvements,  alterations,  and  repairs  in  drj- 

dock,  London 2550     0     0 

Cost    of     improvements,    alterations,    additions    and 

repairs  at  Lyttelton,  New  Zealand 740  19     9 

Cost  of  repairs  at  Lyttelton,  New  Zealand,  after  her 
return  from  the  Antarctic  on  her  first  voyage  when 

she  was  damaged  during  heavy  weather 957     3     3 

9248     3     0 

Equipment    for   ship,    engine,   carpenters,   deck    and 

galley  stores,  &c 

Relief  equipment  ship 

Food-supplies,  ship 

Wages:  captain's,  officers',  and  crew  of  ship 

Coal  account  for  ship  at  London,  Torquay,  St.  Vincent, 
Cape  Town,  Lyttelton,  New  Zealand  (three  sup- 
plies) and  Monte  Video 1520     8     8 

General  expenses  of  ship,  including  labour,  pilotage, 

shipbrokers'  charges,  &c 

Insurance  on  ship,  &c 

Equipment  shore-party  for  sixteen  men  for  two  years   

Relief  equipment  shore-party 

Food-supplies  shore-party,  sixteen  men  for  two  years 

Relief  food-supplies  for  whole  expedition,  forty  men 

for  one  year 

Salaries  shore-party 

Cost  of  fifteen  ilanchurian  ponies,  including  purchase 
price,  freight  from  China  to  New  Zealand,  harness, 
two  years'  forage,  &c 

Cost  of  nine  Esquimau  dogs  and  food 

Interest  account  at  bank  on  guarantees,  &c.,  and  bank 

charges 

Passage  of  shore-party  and  manager  of  expedition  to 

New  Zealand  and  back 

Travelling  expenses 

General  expenses:  manager's  salary,  office  rent,  tele- 
grams, postages,  typewriting  correspondence, 
exhibition  of  equipment,  wages  district  messenger- 
boy,  telephone,  rent,  &c.,  &c 1484   19     7 

Cost  of  cablegrams  between  London  and  Australia, 
and  New  Zealand  before  the  expedition  sailed  and 
on  its  return 264  14     7 


1365 

15 

1 

863 

12 

0 

4296 

18 

4 

328 

16 

11 

2005 

14 

7 

1807 

10 

7 

6055 

10 

4 

1517 

17 

8 

126 

0 

0 

2021 

11 

5 

1016 

15 

10 

443 

4 

9 

i44,380  14     9 

445 


INDEX 


Acetylene  Gas,  19,  139 

Adams,  6,  7,  29,   140,   168,  177.  211, 

244,  288,  366;  ii.  20 
Adare,  Cape,  ii.  228 
Adelie  Land,  ii.  226,  229 
Adineta,  ii.  242 

grandis,  ii.  243 
Admiralty,  24 

Albatross,  47,  51,  59;  ii.  233 
Alga;,  205;  ii.  236 
Anatina,  ii.  273 
Ansel],  54 
Armitage,  Cape,  227,  363;  ii.  59 

Lieutenant,  ii.  36 
Armytage,  27,  29,  142,  209,  223,  252; 

ii.  61 
Aurora  Australis,  199,  217;  ii.  384-92 
"Aurora  Australis"  (book),  212-14;  ii. 

28 
Australia,  3,  34 

Back  Door  Bay,  108,  119,  123,  159 
Backstairs  Passage,  ii.  193 
Balleny  Islands,  ii.  229,  230 
Balloon  Bight  {see  Barrier  Inlet) 
Barne,  Cape,  93,  94,  130,  231;    ii.  70, 

Inlet,  284 
Barrier,  Great  Ice,  2,  40,  67,  70,  71, 
226,  227,  283;  ii.  42,  285 
movement,   74,   230,   272;    ii.  55, 
287,  298 
Barrier  Inlet,  67,  73-75,  79 

Origin,  ii.  298-301 
Beacon  sandstone,  ii.  63,  67,  97,  100, 

276,  313,  321,  332,  333 
Beardmore  Glacier,  318;  ii.  13 
Beaufort  Island,  82;  ii.  42 
Bellingshausen,    Mount,    ii.    149,    159, 
169,  220 


Bernacchi,  Cape,  ii.  94,  218 
"Billy,"  35 

Biological  laboratorj-,  142 
Biology,  215,  217;  ii.  233-75 
Bird,  Cape,  82,  123,  132;  ii.  42 

Mount,  103;  ii.  45,  326 
Bjorn,  16 

Black-back  (Dominican)  gull,  ii.  233 
Black  Island,  84 
Blubber,  208 
Blue  Lake,  131,  159 
BluS  Depot,  252,  357,  359,  360;  ii.  50. 

52-60.  223 
Borchgrevink,  71,  74;  ii.  280 
Brocklehurst,   27,   30,    127,    142,    168, 

177,   181,   191,   218,   229.   252,   258; 

ii.  22,  28,  61 
Brown  Island,  84 
Buckley,  27,  40,  58,  60,  359 
Burberry  material,  20,  154,  336 
Butter  Point,  ii.  35,  37,  74,  86,  88 

C.\^LLiDixA  Constricta,  ii.  243 

Cameras,  25 

Cape  pigeon,  60;  ii.  233 

Castle  Rock,  84,  132,  225,  259.  364 

"Castle,"  the,  330 

"Cavalry  Club,"  45,  53,  56 

Charcot  Bay,  ii.  123 

Cheatham,  28,  114 

Cheese,  246-47,  336 

Chemistry,  ii.  365 

"Chinaman,"   35,   108,   159,   281,  285 

Chinaman  Depot  (Depot  B),  286.  354 

Chocolate,  246-47,  336 

Cinematograph,  21-5 

Clear  Lake,  132 

Cliff  Point,  115 

Clothing.  20 


447 


INDEX 


"Cloudmaker,"  the.  304,  309,  314,  320; 

ii.  16 
Coal.  125-26.  207 

(Southern  Journey),  322;  ii.  314 
Coast  Lake,  132 
Colbeck,  Cape,  78 
Compressed  fodder,  36,  252 
Cooker,  19,  27,  151 
Cooking  range,  19,  124,  146 
Cost  of  expedition,  ii.  445 
Cotton,  L.,  26-7 
Crab-eater  seal,  65;  ii.  267,  269 
Crater  Hill,  226,  366 
Crozicr,  Cape,  82;  ii.  55.  56 
Crustacea,  ii.  237,  273 
Currents,  ii.  392-401 

Dark  Room,  139 

David,  27,  30,  40,  44.  138.  144.  176. 

198,  211,  223,  242,  243;  ii.  37 
Davis,  28,  114,  123;  ii.  69,  212,  224,  437 
Day,  27,  30,  86,  141,  229,  258;    ii.  25, 

36,  52 
Delbridge  Islands,  83 
Depot  A,  230-41,  278,  357 
Nunatak,  ii.  36,  62 
Island,  ii.  97,  104,  115,  228 
Derrick  Point.  107,  110,  128 
Diatoms,  216 

Discovery  expedition,  1,  26,  45,  80,  84, 
88,  93,  148,  157,  170,  223,  225, 
247,   .302;    ii.   36,   55,   66,    118, 
177,  179 
Depot,  ii.  55,  298 
Mount,  84,  276,  356;  ii.  54 
"Doctor,"  35,  50 
Dogs,  21,  23,  36,  39,  99,  137,  162-66, 

234,  237,  241;  ii.  53,  59,  269-272 
Dougherty  Island,  ii.  442 
Drygalski   Barrier,   253;    ii.    107,    130, 
133,  137,  140,  141,  143,  148,  154,  197, 
219,  283,  297 
Drygalski  Depot,  ii.  147,  200,  201,  208 
Dry  Valley,  ii,  36.  62.  74 
Dunlop,  28,  114 

Dysentery,  350,  352,  353.  362;    ii.  9. 
428 


Eakth  shadows,  219;  ii.  369.  377-80 

Emerald  Island,  441 

England,  Captain,  28,  38,  86,  110,  112, 

115,  118,  125;  ii.  40 
Equipment,  5,  25,  98 
Erebus,  Mount,  81,  82,  130,  132.  133, 

167,  197,  218,  276,  357;    ii.  28,  35, 

55,  224-31 
Evans,  Captain,  37,  48,  361;  ii.  40,  71, 

213 

Felspar  Crystals.  182.  193.  195;  ii  29 
Ferrar  Glacier,  ii.  36.  37,  61,  88 
Finnesko,  14,  154,  248,  249,  339 
Flagstaff  Point,  94,  106,  110,  119,  125, 

131 
Fossils,  ii.  62,  65 
Fossil    wood    (southern    journey);     ii. 

276,  314 
Front  Door  Bay,   106,   115,   119,   125, 

127 
Frost-bite,  181,  328,  336,  339,  341;   ii. 

11,  35 
Fumaroles,  180,  182 
Fungi,  205,  220;  ii.  348 
Furs,  13-15 

Geikie  Inlet,  ii.  129 
Geographical  Journal,  3 

Society,  21-3 
Geological  summary,  ii.  322-23 
Geology,  general  ii.  276-314 

Western  mountains,  ii.  332-53 
Gerlaclie  Inlet,  ii.  148 
Glacier  Tongue,  112,  125,  171,  224,  230. 

252,258,  364;  ii.  70,  295 
Glaciology,  ii.  288-307.  351-53 
Gneiss  Point,  ii.  99 
Goggles,  249,  265,  269,  274 
Granite   Harbour,   253;     ii.    101,    110, 

111 
Green  Park,  130,  159 

Lake,  132 
"Grisi,"  35.   100,   1.35,   159,  258,  357, 

358;  ii.  10 
Grisi    Depot    (Depot    C),    295,    352; 

ii.  19 


448 


INDEX 


Handcock,  54 

Harbord,  28,  114,  117,  121,  123;  ii.  49, 

224 
Head-gear,  154 

Health  of  expedition,  ii,  426-28 
Hope,  Mount,  302-304 
Horseshoe  Bay,  132;  ii.  19 
Hut,  18-19,  95,  96,  105,  133,  138-47; 

ii.  38,  227,  228 
Point,  83,  88,  92,  97,  111,  132,  167, 

223,  233,  252,  259,  366;    ii.  22, 

59,  227 
Hydatina,  ii.  237 

Ice-birds,  60 

Ice-flowers,  216 

Ice-forms,  ii.  354-62 

Ice-temperatures  (in  lakes),  ii.  362-65 

Inaccessible  Island,  91,  93,  230;   ii.  24 

Infusoria,  ii.  237 

Instruments,  23-25 

Irizar,  Cape,  ii.  125,  126,  129 

Jaeger  clothing,  20,  154 
Joyce,  26,  27,  30,  144,  211,  253,  277, 
358,  360;  ii.  22,  28,  52 


Kentte,  195;   ii.  25,  29,  37,  343 
King  Edward  VII  Land,  73,   74,   75, 

78,  80,  ii.  42,  281 
Killer-whales,  87,  217;  ii.  68,  234 
Kinsey,  J.  J.,  37 
Knob  Head,  Mount;  ii.  64 
Koonya,  37,  41,  47,  50,  61 
Kukri  Hills,  ii.  64 

Larsen  Depot,  ii.  168,  188,  191 

Mount,  ii.  139,  148,  169,  189 
Lichen,  205;   ii.  26,  64,  235 
Longstaff,  Mount,  289,  293,  300 
Lower  Glacier  Depot,  349 
Lyttelton,  Port,  33,  34,  37,  38;    ii.  40, 
231 

"Mac,"  35 

Mackay,  27,  31,  35,  88,  142,  168,  179, 
242,  243,  365;   ii.  73 


Mackintosh,  28,  31,  88,   114,  302;    ii, 

42,  52,  225 
Macquarie  Island,  ii.  438-40 
Macrohiotus  ardicus,  ii.  243 
Magnetic  Pole,  4,  242,  364;  ii.  73,  119, 

136,  170,  177,  179-181,  221,  382-84 
Magnetism,  ii.  382-92 
Marine  biology,  204,  216 
Maize,  36,  236,  239,  252,  266,  297,  328, 

333 
Markham,  Mount,  284 
Marshall,  27,  31,  88,  140,  168,  179,  211, 

244,  362,  363;  ii.  21 
Marston,  27,  31,  141,  239;  ii.  27,  28,  36 
Maujee  ration,  36,  252,  266,  297,  331 
Mawson,  27,  31,   138,   144,    168,  212, 

242,  365;   ii.  71,  73,  155,  203,  354 
McGillan,  365;  ii.  42 
McMurdo  Sound,  80,  83,  119,  123,  131, 

198;  ii.  88,  282,  398 
Michell,  28,  44,  88 
Microscopic  life,  ii.  236-45 
Minna  Bluff,  239,  277;  ii.  12,  50 
Mineralogy,  ii.  365 
Mirabilite,  ii.  319 
Mirage,  ii.  367 
Mils,  15,  155,  248,  249 
Meteorological  .station,  137,  199-203 
Meteorology,  ii.  402-425 
Montague,  54 
Moss,  205;  ii.  235 
Motor-car,  21,  22,  86,  89,  98,  166,  229, 

234-36,  242,  245,  261;   ii.  23,  25,  36, 

76 
Mount  A.  Markham,  292 
Murray,  27,  32,  144.  199,  204,  205,  211, 

252;  ii.  28,  48,  233 

Nansen,  Mount,  ii.  139,  148,  154,  171, 

188,  221,  284 
Neobuccinum,  ii.  273 
New  coast  line,  ii.  229,  284 
New  Harbour,  ii.  90 
New  Zealand,  2,  3,  11,  33,  34,  37;  ii.  230 
Nimrod,   16-17,  36,  37,  86,   115,   119, 
125,  253,  365,  366,;  ii.  38,  40,  48, 
69,  110,  200,  210,  223,  232,  437 

449 


INDEX 


Ximrod  Islands,  ii.  411 
Mount,  ii.  170,  174 
Nordenskjold  Ice  Barrier,  ii.  50,   118, 

120,  218,  283,  298 
North,  Cape,  ii.  181,  229 
Northern  party,  241,  242,  253;    ii.  35, 

37,  66,  69,  71,  73-222 
Nototheia,  ii.  273 

Obelisk,  Mount,  ii.  62 
Observation  Hill,  83,  230,  363;  ii.  59 
Optics,  Meteorolof;ical,  ii.  367-81 
"Oyster  Alley,"  36,  39,  46,  51,  119 

P.tnsELENE,  ii.  367 
I'aton,  ii.  43 
Peat,  ii.  319 

Pecten  Colhecki,  ii.  66,  273 
Pcmmican,  9,  156 

Penguins,  Adclie,  67,  87,  94,  116,  216, 
274,  276;  ii.  23,  39,  235,  250- 
263 

Emperor,  73;   ii.  234,  246-250 

Ringed,  ii.  264 
Petrel,  Antarctic,  67;  ii.  233 

Giant,  ii.  234 

Snowy,  ii.  233 

Wilson's,  ii.  234 
Petroleum,  151,  223,  227 
Philodina  gregaria,  ii.  242 
Physics,  ii.  354-65 
Plasmon  biscuit,  156 
Plateau,  Antarctic,  ii.  303-06 
Plateau  depot,  338,  344 
Ponies,  21,  22,  35,  36,  38,  45,  49,  99. 

101,  158-62,  233,  244,  283,  286 
Pony  Lake,  130 

meat,  288,  298 
"Possum,"  56,  124,  162 
Pram  Point,  363 

Priestley,  27,  32,   143,   198,  211,  229, 
252,  258;   ii.  24,  25,  28,  37,  61,  276, 
332 
Protozoa,  ii.  237 
Provisions,  6-12 
Pteropods,  ii.  273 
Pycnogonida,  ii.  274 


QcAiL  Island,  22,  35 

"Quan,"  35,  159,  257,  258,  261,  281, 

295,  297 
Queen  Alexandra's  Flag,  34,  249,  257, 

262,  330,  343 

Raised  beaches,  ii.  285,  316-319 

Reid,  6,  34,  38 

Rhizopods,  ii,  237 

Riches,  ii.  43 

Roberts,  27,  32.  54,  143 

Ross  Island,  91,  133,  217;    ii.  49,  282 

Sea,  62,  63,  67;  ii.  41,  281 

Seal.  ii.  209,  227,  267 

Sir  James,  79,  169.  171;  ii.  41,  181 
Royal  Company  Island,  ii.  437 

Society,  23 
Royds,  Cape,  84,  94,  131,  133,  198;  ii. 

42 
Rotifers,  215;  ii.  237-45 

"Sa.vdy,"  35 

Sandy  Beach,  131,  159 

Sastrugi,  174 

Scott,  Captain,  90,  291,  302,  329,  361; 

ii.  36,  62,  122 
Sea  leopards,  219;  ii.  267 

spiders,  ii.  274 

weed,  220 
Sennegrass,  15 
Shackleton,  29 

Inlet,  289,  291 
Ski,  15 

boots,  14 
Skua  gulls,  90,  94,  216;  ii.  61.  265-66 
"Socks,"  35,  159,  257,  261,  296,  305, 

310 
Sledges,  12,  13,  148-51,  251 
Sledging  foods,  155-57 
Sleeping-bags,  14,  153,  223,  237 
Snow-blindness,  269,  274,  276,  294,  296, 
.301,  307,  309;  ii.  37,  44,  96,  143,  101 
Snow  Cape,  292 
Solitary  Rocks,  ii,  62,  04 
Southern  party,  222,  244,  253,  256-67, 
ii.  1-21,  50,  56,  223 

Journey  distances,  ii.  429-434 

450 


INDEX 


Southern  Journey  equipment,  245-52 

Staff,  26-32 

Stamps,  35,  60 

Stewart  Island,  ii.  230 

Stranded  moraines,  ii.  66,  86,  341 

Temperatures,  subnormal,  331,  335, 

338;  ii.  426 
Tent  Island,  224 
Tents,  19,  152 
Tide-crack,  101 
Tides,  ii.  392-401 
Titanium,  ii.  105 
Terra  Nova  Bay,  ii.  144 
Terrace  Island,  ii.  97 
Terror,  Mount,  82 
Tubman,  35 
Turk's  Head,  224 

Upper  Glacier  Depot,  322, 347;  ii.  11,19 


Victoria  Land;  ii.  73,  76,  94 

Volcanic  Rocks,  ii.  308 

W.4SHINGTOX,  Cape,  ii.  75,  141 

Water-bears,  ii.  237-245 

Weddell  Seals,  65,  91,  216;    ii.  26,  85, 

86,  95,  98,  234,  267-68 
Western  party,  253;   ii.  35,  37.  61-9 

Bight,  69.  81 
Whales,  69;    ii.  234,  266 

Bay  of,  73,  74,  77,  78;   ii.  234 
White  Island,  84,  238,  263,  363;   ii.  55 
Wild,  26,  27,  32,  144,  211,  229,  244;  ii. 

21 
Wilkes  Land,  ii.  229,  230 
Wilson,  Cape,  291 

Dr.  96,  361 
Windy  Gully,  ii.  64 

"Zulu,"  35,  58,  88 


1^07 


--,  -3. 


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